O’Brien hails unique talent
The Ballydoyle colt swept to glory at the Paris track and afterwards a joyous O’Brien said of his jockey: “What a masterful ride he gave him and I don’t think he has ever been beaten on this horse.
“When Kieren gets on a horse he goes into a different land. What a unique talent he is.”
He added of Dylan Thomas: “He is a marvellous horse and has won despite everything.
“Everyone knows he is best on hard ground but he is a wonderful horse and Kieren gave him a great ride.
“On real fast ground he is amazing. We were worried about the ground but he has overcame it today with his determination and he always gives his all.
“We felt coming into the race that this horse is a heavyweight and a lot of the horses in it were still middle or lightweights.
“The plan if everything goes well is to go for the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
“I am not sure if he will stay in training next year but he probably won’t. He is so unique and is the last of the Danehill’s so you can’t afford for anything to happen to him.”
O’Brien’s other runner Soldier Of Fortune was far from disgraced in fifth, and may have run his last race this season.
Last seen winning the Prix Niel on Arc trials day, O’Brien reported: “Soldier is a very good horse and in an ideal world we would probably have preferred to have three weeks rather than four weeks between his races.
“Soldier might have done enough for this year and he is something to look forward to next year.
“We consider Dylan a heavyweight as he has done it at the top level all of the time but I think Soldier will be an amazing talent next year as he has that pure, natural, raw ability.”
Fallon meanwhile admitted he thought he might lose the race in the stewards’ room.
The former champion jockey had a lengthy wait of around 30 minutes before the placings were confirmed by the officials.
Said Fallon: “I was very worried but the boys were confident I wouldn’t lose it.
“Stephane Pasquier (rider of Zambezi Sun) helped me in the stewards’ room and he backed me up.
“He owed me one (after an incident in the Grand Prix de Paris earlier in the season) but I think he has paid it back now.”
William Hill’s director of racing David Hood said the result had hit bookmakers hard: “It was a massive result for the punters. If the stewards’ enquiry had gone the other way then punters would have left behind around £5m in winnings.”
He continued: “Like the majority of UK and Irish bookmakers we only pay double result on UK and Irish racing. International racing has too many different rules and regulations and interpretations to be able to apply the same rules as we do for domestic racing.”
