Excelebration wise after the event in Breeders’ Cup Mile
Ballydoyle’s big hope for the self-styled ‘World Championships’ was no match for the impressive Wise Dan, who readily defeated last year’s Kentucky Derby hero Animal Kingdom by a length and a half.
O’Brien accepted the residue from his remarkable victory in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot just 13 days earlier had perhaps not been fully erased.
He said: “He was very impressive at Ascot, but that was only 13 days ago and it may well have left its mark.”
Even more disappointing from a European perspective was Moonlight Cloud, who beat just one horse home.
Ballydoyle could not have got off to a better start to the afternoon, either, as the Ryan Moore-ridden George Vancouver gave O’Brien snr back-to-back wins in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
St Nicholas Abbey was also an honourable third behind Little Mike in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Ballydoyle’s five-year-old revelled on his return to fast ground, but could not match his heroics of 12 months ago.
O’Brien snr said: “He did have a tough race in the Arc on heavy ground and he didn’t pick up the way he can do in the straight. I hope he will be around and keep going next year.”
Fort Larned made all of the running to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, the showpiece event of the two-day racing fiesta.
The Ian Wilkes-trained four-year-old showed laudable steel under birthday boy Brian Hernandez to deny Mucho Macho Man in a pulse-chasing finish to America’s richest race.
Mucho Macho Man seemed destined to win as he chased down Fort Larned along the straight, but Wilkes’ colt would simply not be denied.
Flat Out finished some distance away in third, but last year’s runner-up Game On Dude was very disappointing after having made a sloppy start.
Hernandez said: “Fort Larned has given me the greatest birthday present anyone could ever have.
“He’s one of the best, and he showed it today.”
Wilkes said: “I was looking for the wire at the end.
“Mucho Macho Man ran an unbelievable race, but Brian gave him a really good ride.
“If we missed the break we were done, simple as that.
“This is the ultimate.”
Ballydoyle resident Starspangledbanner finished well adrift of Mizdirection in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, but O’Brien was delighted by the electric pace he showed in the first half a mile.
Coolmore can also expect more big days with Shanghai Bobby after he preserved his unbeaten record in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.
The powerful Irish owners gained a 50% interest in the two-year-old colt earlier in the week, which looks money well spent on the evidence of this courageous defeat of He’s Had Enough.
