O’Brien’s ability to improve horses dramatically is fast becoming the stuff of legend
By the time Soldier Of Fortune had crossed the line at the Curragh, however, everyone was immediately aware they had got it hopelessly wrong.
The Galileo colt was a brilliant winner and his swashbuckling performance saved the race and had us all reaching for the superlatives.
Aidan O’Brien was at pains afterwards to stress that Soldier Of Fortune doesn’t need testing ground. Time may well prove him right, but you have to think it brought about a huge improvement all the same.
Soldier Of Fortune was a decent horse arriving at headquarters, his form told us that. But he left a potential superstar, and that was well nigh impossible to envisage.
Fifth behind Authorized at Epsom, the amount of improvement he found was quite staggering. Admittedly, there were clearly plenty who expected him to come on significantly from Epsom and he was a big order in the market.
Oh to get a loan, you’d only need it for a short time, of the crystal ball they are currently using! I hope Soldier Of Fortune is now trained for the ’Arc. He appears to have bottomless stamina and soft ground at Longchamp, more likely than not, would be a big plus.
O’Brien’s ability to improve horses dramatically, and to have them spot-on for the big day, is fast becoming the stuff of legend.
You know he basically did it with Dylan Thomas a year ago as well.
I suppose you could argue he ran a better race at Epsom than Soldier Of Fortune. Dylan Thomas was beaten a short head and a head into third behind Sir Percy and Dragon Dancer, with Hala Bek just a short head further behind in fourth.
That was hardly a vintage Epsom Derby and who gives a toss now about Dragon Dancer or Hala Bek and Sir Percy doesn’t exactly set the pulses racing either.
Anyway, when Dylan Thomas arrived on to the Curragh, he looked a completely different horse, absolutely bolting away with the race.
* I THOUGHT the overall package for the three-days of the Derby meeting left plenty to be desired.
Sunday had its positives, none more so than the crowd of almost 29,000. That may have been some 2,000 down on a year ago, but it was still a mighty attendance when you take into account the appalling weather.
The Tote set a new course record and betting with the layers was up as well. So, you could argue, the mix is right and if it ain’t broke why fix it.
But I hate a card, as Sunday’s was, where four or the eight races are handicaps, and largely impossible to solve as well.
We have to accept you could run the Derby, along with seven contests for donkeys, and the Curragh would still be packed.
Equally, you could say that maybe as many 20,000 who turned up had little more than a passing interest in the racing.
The point is that the hardcore of the game, those who go racing regularly, might just like a more attractive programme. In other words dump some of those handicaps.
The three days at the Curragh saw 22 races run, no less than ten of them handicaps. Here’s one who detests them, they are but a necessary evil.
And those maidens won by Shibina and Satu were fairly grim affairs as well, not to mention the soft touch the moderate Peppertree Lane got in the Group 3 Curragh Cup on Saturday.
* ON Monday was skimming through the At The Races coverage of Sunday’s Derby and came across a Luke Harvey interview with Tony McCoy.
McCoy’s wife, Chanelle, is pregnant with the couple’s first child and ATR anchor-man, Matt Chapman, has been waffling on for some time now about being godfather to the kid.
Harvey informed McCoy that Chapman was at it again and you could see the mist almost descending on the champ, as he ran his hands through his hair and began to shake his head gently from side to side.
And then, rather uncharacteristically, but delightfully, he left rip-with both barrels. Said McCoy: “I would rather have f... Pete Doherty looking after it.”
