Curragh: So You Think looks dominant in Tattersalls Gold Cup

Though So You Think has made just one start since being imported from Australia, trainer Aidan O’Brien has suggested the horse may be one of the best – if not the best – he has ever trained. But exactly where in the upper echelon of the 2011 European hierarchy So You Think will fit might not be much clearer after Sunday’s Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh, since So You Think will have just four rivals, none of whom, on paper, should threaten him.

So You Think, a 5-year-old New Zealand-bred son of Breeders’ Cup Turf hero High Chaparral, made his first 12 starts in Australia before being transferred to O’Brien’s base at Ballydoyle in Ireland following a third-place finish on Nov. 2 in the two-mile Melbourne Cup. Over shorter distances like the one mile, two furlongs, and 88 yards of Sunday’s Gold Cup, So You Think, had won six in a row before the Melbourne Cup.

Shifting to a new trainer, a new country, and a new hemisphere, So You Think looked like the same dominant horse in cruising to a 10-length win on May 2 at the Curragh in the Group 3 Mooresbridge Stakes. Third about a quarter-mile from the finish, So You Think effortlessly drew away from five overmatched foes while never asked for anything close to his best. Ridden in the Mooresbridge by Seamie Heffernan, So You Think gets the services of Ryan Moore in Sunday’s race.

Windsor Palace, an O’Brien trainee who made the pace for So You Think last out, is entered back in the Gold Cup. Dermot Weld-trained Famous Name carries a three-race win streak over lesser rivals into the Gold Cup.

With the quartet of Wild Wind, Together, Misty for Me, and Look at Me, O’Brien holds another strong hand in the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas, also on Sunday at The Curragh. Fifteen 3-year-old fillies were entered in the race, which is contested at one mile over a nearly straight course.

Together, Moore named to ride, was second of 18 on May 1 in the English 1000 Guineas at Newmarket, where she was worn down late by Blue Bunting, one of the favorites for the Oaks at Epsom next month. But Together has won just twice in 10 starts, and was well beaten by stable-mate Misty for Me in her lone race over the course. Wild Wind was third of 16 behind sharp winner Golden Lilac in the French 1000 Guineas last weekend, while Misty for Me could do no better than 11th in the English 1000, her 2011 debut.