George: ‘A hell of a run under the conditions’
Invasor’s victory in the $5m dirt showdown over a mile and a quarter was celebrated in Argentina, where the four-year-old was bred, Uruguay, where he won that country’s triple crown, and Dubai, whose Sheikh Hamdam bin Rashid al Maktoum bought the horse and shipped him from South America to the United States and trainer Kiaran McLoughlin.
Among those licking their wounds were the Californian connections of Lava Man and Sheikh Hamdam’s younger brother Sheikh Mohammed, whose New York-trained three-year-old Bernardini failed to respond when put under pressure for the first time in his short career by Invasor.
Aidan O’Brien’s Breeders’ Cup string of George Washington, Ad Valorem, Aussie Rules and Scorpion, were yesterday being boxed by Ballydoyle staff in readiness for their shipment back to Ireland after a win-free raid at Churchill Downs.
O’Brien, though, was striking a positive tone about George Washington’s bid for success at a distance and surface over which he had never raced.
‘Gorgeous George’ showed a little of his noted feistiness going into the gate as darkness rapidly descended on the Kentucky racetrack Saturday evening, but once he was loaded he did not disgrace himself in the Classic.
In finishing sixth, the three-year-old son of Danehill failed to get the trip having excelled in Europe over a mile, but showed he could more than act on dirt after a career on the turf.
He will now go to stud having run his last race with O’Brien delighted owners John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith gave the green light to run their horse on a “trip into the unknown” as the Ballydoyle trainer had described it earlier in the week.
“He’s run a blinder and I knew I was throwing him in at the deep end,” O’Brien said. “I would love to run him on it again but of course that can’t happen. It was his first time on the dirt and on the surface these races can get a bit rough. But you could see his class as he travelled so well into the straight and I thought he ran a great race.
He’d never run beyond a mile and he’s pure speed.”
George Washington’s jockey, Mick Kinane was also impressed, adding: “He travelled really well for me and I thought at one stage he would get into the argument but I wasn’t helped when the winner moved out and knocked me sideways.
“It was a hell of a run under the conditions.”
Invasor’s connections were naturally delighted by the outcome and are hoping Sheikh Hamdam will choose to keep him in training rather than retire him to stud.
Having put the much-heralded Lava Man and Bernardini in their place, Shadwell general manager Rick Nichols said Sheikh Hamdam would take his time in deciding the future of Invasor but hinted that their star would be sent to the Dubai World Cup next March.
“It’s going to be up to Sheikh Hamdam but we’ll talk to him, see what he wants to do,” Nichols said. “We haven’t actually discussed what we would do with him after this race.
“With the fact of winning the Classic, it would be very tempting to go retire him but it’s also very tempting to win the Dubai World Cup in Dubai next March. So that will be his decision to make once we’ve had time to think about things. We’ll talk to Kiaran, see how the horse comes out of this race, see how he looks tomorrow and make that decision probably in a few days.”
McLaughlin, who also won for Sheikh Hamdam with Jazil in the Belmont Stakes earlier this year, left Louisville early yesterday but his brother Neal, one of his assistant trainers, said: “Sheikh Hamdam said he wanted to sleep on it and not make any rash decisions but, being the sportsman that he is, I would like to think he will bring the horse over to Dubai to the World Cup and continue racing next year. That’s what he hope.”
McLaughlin said that Bernardini’s connections had been among the first to congratulate ‘Team Invasor’ on their victory.
“There’s a pretty good rivalry between the two but Sheikh Hamdam’s the older brother so he gets to win every once in a while.
“It was a sweet victory but Bernardini is a super horse, we work for Sheikh Mohammed too and the Darley people and we’re very close. Tom Albertrani (Bernardini’s trainer) was the first to congratulate us and it’s definitely a ‘if we don’t win we hope you do’ kind of thing. And I’m sure glad we did.”
