Ireland: Power gets up to win 2000 Guineas at the Curragh for the O'Briens

Power, ridden by Joseph O’Brien for his father, trainer Aidan O’Brien, came off the rail about a furlong from the finish and finished well enough to capture the Group 1 Irish 2000 Guineas on Saturday at the Curragh.

The race lost luster earlier in the day when favorite and Epsom Derby hope Parish Hall was scratched because of a leg infection. That left Hermival and Trumpet Major as the top betting choices, but neither could deliver anything close to a contending performance, with O’Brien-trained horses taking first, third, and fourth in what might have been a soft renewal of the Irish classic. Daddy Long Legs, last in the Kentucky Derby, shot to the lead in the Guineas, tracked by his stablemate Wrote, who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf last fall. Those two led the field into the homestretch, but neither could match strides with Power, who had been sixth in the early going and provided the younger O’Brien with good acceleration once he swung into the clear in the final stages. His margin of victory was one length, with stalking Foxtrot Romeo second by a length over Reply, the least regarded member of O’Brien’s quartet of runners in the race. Daddy Long Legs hung on for fourth. Time for the mile on good-to-firm going was 1:39.04.

Power, an Oasis Dream colt, had been second to Parish Hall in the Group 1 Dewhurst last October, but the strength of his victory Saturday probably is called into question by the prominent position of runner-up Foxtrot Romeo. That colt had only a maiden win at Hamilton last year atop his r é sum é , and in his 2-year-old finale he finished fourth behind Caspar Netscher, who most recently could only muster a ninth-place finish in the English 2000 Guineas.