Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf: O'Brien might opt for Juvenile with Johannes Brahms
ARCADIA, Calif. – Though Johannes Brahms has the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf listed as his first preference, his trainer, Aidan O’Brien, said he has not ruled out running him on dirt in the $2 million Juvenile instead.
Johannes Brahms, a son of Siyouni, has one win and two seconds from four starts, all sprinting on turf in Great Britain.
“Our horses that are going to run in your dirt [route] races, they’re going to need that six-furlong pace,” O’Brien said on a conference call Wednesday. “We always thought he’d get much farther than six and wanted it, but we were trying to keep the pace in him. There’s every chance we could do that with him. He’s a big, hearty horse that has plenty of racing. It would be interesting to see what would happen if we did.”
Johannes Brahams is one of four horses O’Brien pre-entered in the Juvenile Turf, including River Tiber and Unquestionable, both of whose credentials are superior to Johannes Brahms.
O’Brien won the 2001 Juvenile with Johannesburg, a horse that had gone 6 for 6 on turf in Europe before making his dirt debut in the Juvenile. O’Brien has not had a starter in the Juvenile since U S Navy Flag finished 10th in 2017.
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