O'Brien, Coolmore sweep Group 1 stakes for 2-year-olds at The Curragh

Aidan O’Brien and Coolmore won both Group 1 races for 2-year-olds Sunday at The Curragh, including a sweep of the first three places in the Moyglare Stud Stakes for fillies.

But the Moyglare Stud winner came as a surprise, as Minding, an 8-1 shot in North American betting, pushed past heavily favored Ballydoyle to win by three-quarters of a length. Alice Springs finished another half-length back in third.

It was Air Force Blue scoring a decisive victory in the National under Joseph O’Brien. Held up early, Air Force Blue, a long-legged, smooth-striding son of War Front, came down the outside and won comfortably, drawing away to a three-length win over Godolpin’s seemingly decent colt Herald the Dawn.

Both races are Breeders’ Cup Challenge Win and You’re In races, the Moyglare Stud for the BC Juvenile Fillies Turf, the National for the BC Juvenile Turf. O’Brien and Coolmore, however, don’t send their very best 2-year-olds to Breeders’ Cup races, and if Air Force Blue truly is a Guineas or Derby hope, he’s unlikely to come to the United States this fall.

Air Force Blue won for the third time in four starts and had no issue whatsoever stretching from six to seven furlongs. Joseph O’Brien, in a post-pace interview, said connections viewed the colt as “a little bit special.”

Ballydoyle had beaten Minding by two lengths last month in the Debutante Stakes, but Ballydoyle, who set the pace Sunday, had no answer when her less-fancied stablemate drew abreast in the final furlong. Minding, by Galileo, won her first stakes in her fourth start.

O’Brien also sent out the winner of the Group 1 Irish St. Leger, as Order of St George romped to victory, but that race was marred by the breakdown of the wonderful Brown Panther, who fractured a hind leg in the running and had to be euthanized because of the injury. The 7-year-old Brown Panther was the race’s defending champion and this past March had scored a smashing victory in the Group 1 Gold Cup on the Dubai World Cup undercard.

Order of St George, who was scratched from Saturday’s St. Leger at Doncaster in favor of this race against older rivals, won by 13 lengths and appears to be one of the better staying-type racehorses in Europe.