O'Brien brings record run into Breeders' Cup
DEL MAR, Calif. – Only a protest at a suburban racecourse in Paris last weekend has been able to interrupt Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien’s record year of wins in Grade 1 or Group 1 races.
O’Brien won his 26th race at the highest level at Doncaster Racecourse on Oct. 29 in England with Saxon Warrior in the Racing Post Trophy for 2-year-olds, surpassing the late Bobby Frankel’s 2003 record of 25 Grade 1 or Group 1 wins.
The next day, O’Brien was scheduled to have runners in two Group 1 races at Saint-Cloud racecourse, but the program was canceled after a dispute over prize money led some French horsemen to block access to the saddling area.
O’Brien has plenty of chances to add to his historic season in the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar on Friday and Saturday. O’Brien has 13 runners in eight Grade 1, seven-figure races.
Tuesday morning in the Del Mar stables, the 48-year-old O’Brien took a low-key approach while reflecting on the season.
“A lot of people have put in a lot of work to get the results,” he said.
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O’Brien has won 11 Breeders’ Cup races, including the 2016 Turf with Highland Reel at Santa Anita.
O’Brien has a good chance to add to his 2017 total during the Breeders’ Cup, even though none of his runners are favored on the morning line. Happily is the 9-2 second choice in Friday’s Juvenile Fillies Turf, a race O’Brien has never won. Saturday, Highland Reel is 5-1 to win the Turf for the second consecutive year.
O’Brien will start several longshots, including Lancaster Bomber, who is 20-1 on the morning line for Saturday’s Mile, and Churchill (15-1) and War Decree (30-1) in Saturday’s Classic.
As of Tuesday, the British bookmakers Coral offered odds of 11-8 that O’Brien would have one winner, and 9-4 for two winners.
“We have some very nice chances,” O’Brien said.
Alternatively, O’Brien was 7-2 with bookmakers to go home without a victory.
The way things have gone in the last six months, a winless weekend for O’Brien would be a surprise.
The top races of the European flat season don’t begin in earnest until early May, and O’Brien’s first Group 1 win came May 6 when Churchill won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse in England. Seven of O’Brien’s Group 1 wins came at Newmarket. O’Brien won six Group 1 races at The Curragh in Ireland.
O’Brien won four Group 1 races in May, five in June, three in July, two in August, and six each in September and October. He said there was no month-by-month blueprint of which races to try with his massive and powerful stable, backed by the Coolmore team of Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael Tabor.
“I don’t think we think of it that way,” he said. “It’s a one-day-at-a-time job.”
Through most of those days, the 3-year-old fillies Winter and Roly Poly were reliable runners. Winter won four Group 1 races, including the English and Irish 1000 Guineas. Roly Poly, who starts in the BC Mile on Saturday, won three Group 1 races, including the Sun Chariot Stakes on Oct. 7 at Newmarket.
There were six horses with two Group 1 wins each and seven who had one win. Breeders’ Cup runners Churchill (Classic), Happily (Juvenile Fillies Turf), U S Navy Flag (Juvenile), and Highland Reel have had two Group 1 wins this year.
Approaching the Breeders’ Cup, there seems to be no desire from the Coolmore team and O’Brien to run up the score of top-level wins. U S Navy Flag would be favored in the Juvenile Turf, but is something of an outsider against dirt specialists in Saturday’s Juvenile. Churchill is running in the Classic instead of the Mile, where he might be favored.
“We know how tough it is,” O’Brien said of starting Churchill in the Classic.
“We’ve always thought the world of Churchill. To run in the mile, we know what he can do on the grass. . . . Churchill is big and strong and powerful. He has all the attributes. He’s tough.”
Even if O’Brien does not have any winners at the Breeders’ Cup, it will not be long before his stable is trying again. Johannes Vermeer has a leading chance in Tuesday’s Group 1 Melbourne Cup in Australia.
| Aidan O'Brien Group 1 Wins - 2017 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Track | Race | Winner |
| May 6 | Newmarket | 2000 Guineas | Churchill |
| May 7 | Newmarket | 1000 Guineas | Winter |
| May 27 | The Curragh | Irish 2000 Guineas | Churchill |
| May 28 | The Curragh | Irish 1000 Guineas | Winter |
| June 2 | Epsom | Coronation Cup | Highland Reel |
| June 3 | Epsom | English Derby | Wings Of Eagles |
| June 21 | Royal Ascot | Prince of Wales's Stakes | Highland Reel |
| June 23 | Royal Ascot | Commonwealth Cup | Caravaggio |
| June 23 | Royal Ascot | Coronation Stakes | Winter |
| July 1 | The Curragh | Irish Derby | Capri |
| July 14 | Newmarket | Falmouth Stakes | Roly Poly |
| July 30 | Deauville | Prix Rothschild | Roly Poly |
| Aug. 3 | Goodwood | Nassau Stakes | Winter |
| Aug. 13 | The Curragh | Phoenix Stakes | Sioux Nation |
| Sept. 9 | Leopardstown | Matron Stakes | Hydrangea |
| Sept. 10 | The Curragh | Moyglare Stud Stakes | Happily |
| Sept. 10 | The Curragh | Irish St. Leger | Order of St George |
| Sept. 16 | Doncaster | English St. Leger | Capri |
| Sept. 30 | Newmarket | Cheveley Park Stakes | Clemmie |
| Sept. 30 | Newmarket | Middle Park Stakes | U S Navy Flag |
| Oct. 1 | Chantilly | Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere | Happily |
| Oct. 1 | Chantilly | Prix de l'Opera | Rhododendron |
| Oct. 7 | Newmarket | Sun Chariot Stakes | Roly Poly |
| Oct. 14 | Newmarket | Dewhurst Stakes | U S Navy Flag |
| Oct. 21 | Ascot | British Champions Fillies & Mares | Hydrangea |