Aidan O'Brien backs Constitution River to put ‘complete mess’ of York behind him
Aidan O'Brien on Constitution River: “We always thought the world of this horse, his only blip was the last day and I would be very confident it wasn’t his fault." Pic: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
One of the personality traits many successful sports people possess is a tendency to be self-critical, at times excessively so.
It’s a trait Aidan O’Brien has always had, one that was again in evidence at a press morning at Ballydoyle on Monday previewing the upcoming Irish Champions Festival.
O’Brien was reflecting on Constitution River’s recent third-place finish in the Juddmonte International at York, a race he described as a “complete mess” for his star three-year-old due to planned pacemaker Action’s inability to get to the front after fluffing the start.
“I have to ultimately accept the responsibility for it because I put him in, the pacemaker that wasn’t good enough,” O’Brien said.
“It just goes to show with one bad decision what can happen. Because of that the whole race changed and Constitution River ended up a bit too far forward because there wasn’t enough pace in front of him and he was in a gear too high — it was all just a complete mess really. Everything that could go wrong went wrong.”
As a consequence O’Brien retains maximum faith in the Wootton Bassett colt and is confident that the French Derby and the Coral-Eclipse hero will emulate Delacroix by bouncing back from Juddmonte International defeat to win the Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday week.
“We always thought the world of this horse, his only blip was the last day and I would be very confident it wasn’t his fault. We’re hoping he’ll leave that run behind him and we’re very happy with him since.”
Another trait of successful sports people is they rarely repeat the same mistake and O’Brien is determined circumstances won’t be allowed to contrive against Constitution River again.
To that end, a more suitable pacemaker than Action is being sought to aid the cause of Constitution River and stablemate Hawk Mountain whose prospects were also undermined by the way the race unfolded at York.
“We’d like to have something else that could make it for them so Hawk Mountain wouldn’t have to be as forward,” O’Brien explained.
“Hopefully we’ll have something that might be able to go in there. We have horses that are not it but we could have to supplement. Hopefully we won’t make the same mistake twice. The acid test is the next day and we're just hoping that maybe we can put it right.”
With the Golden Fleece Stakes (last year the Group 2 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes) upgraded to Group 1 status, there are now seven top-level contests up for grabs at the Irish Champions Festival and O’Brien admits it’s a hugely important weekend for Ballydoyle.
“Everything leads to this. We train the horses hard for the Classics early in the season and then we have Ascot and then we have the races in between where they have to compete because they need the racing miles, but we don't be hard on them.
“That's maybe why some of them were running well without winning. We were leaving a little bit for this as this is the most important weekend. Everybody's eyes are on it.”
On day two of the Irish Champions Festival at the Curragh, all eyes will be on Scandinavia in the Comer Group International Irish St Leger.
The Ascot Gold Cup victor backed up that gutsy triumph with an emphatic victory in the Goodwood Cup and O’Brien didn’t disagree when it was suggested the Justify colt could be one of the best stayers he has ever trained.
O’Brien said: “He looks very exciting, doesn't he? He looks very straightforward, a massive high cruiser. He loves doing what he's doing, he has a great mind, and a very big, long stride. As a four-year-old, I'm not sure we’ve ever had one that looks as exciting as that.”
As ever, O’Brien is set to be strongly represented in the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes, a race he has won 12 times, with Giant Sequoia and Haffner on a collision course, one that presents a first world headache for Ryan Moore.
“Everything has gone really well for Giant Sequoia all the way along really,” O’Brien said. “He wasn’t as impressive as we thought he could be the last day, but with the benefit of hindsight it could be good for him because he probably learnt plenty,” said O’Brien.
“We were very happy with Haffner the last day and he seems to have come out of it well, so he could go there with Giant Sequoia.
“Ryan is going to find it very hard to get off Giant Sequoia, but I’d say Haffner is going to be a big danger and I know he loves him, so that isn’t going to be an easy decision.”
O’Brien has faced the same dilemma with Precise and True Love three times already this season, opting for the wrong filly on the first two occasions before choosing right in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The classy pair are set to meet for a fourth time this season in the Coolmore America “Justify” Matron Stakes at Leopardstown and, while Moore will likely keep faith with Precise, O’Brien doesn’t expect there to be much between the pair.
“Precise looks like she gets the mile stronger than True Love but True Love has a lot of class, so it will be interesting and it will probably come down to where they’re drawn and who gets the run of the race.”
One Ballydoyle star who won’t be strutting his stuff at the Irish Champions Festival is Benvenuto Cellini with O’Brien revealing the Irish Derby hero will instead run in the Prix Niel at ParisLongchamp next Sunday ahead of a potential crack at the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe provided the ground is decent on the first Sunday of October.
