U S Navy Flag leads O'Brien-trained sweep in Dewhurst Stakes

Aidan O’Brien got his 24th Group 1 win of the season as U S Navy Flag led an O’Brien-trained sweep of the top four places in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket.

U S Navy Flag was near or on the lead from the start and never was threatened through the final furlong, coming home 2 1/2 lengths ahead of 50-1 runner-up Mendelssohn. Seahenge finished another 2 1/2 lengths back in third and was a head better than Threeandfourpence.

O’Brien moved within one win of Bobby Frankel’s record of 25 Group or Grade 1 victories in a calendar year. O’Brien has Grade 1 starters on the Sunday card at Woodbine.

U S Navy Flag, who won the Grade 1 Middle Park Stakes in his most recent race, could head to Del Mar for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, O’Brien said.

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As well as things went for the O’Brien team, they were equally dismal for odds-on favorite Expert Eye. Expert Eye had looked like a shining star in the 2-year-old class winning his first two races, but things were amiss from the start Saturday, as Expert Eye seemed hell bent on running as fast as he could as soon as the gates opened. Jockey Andrea Atzeni throttled him back into second, but Expert Eye had run himself out after a half-mile and faded tamely back to last of nine.

Under Ryan Moore, U S Navy Flag crossed over from an outside draw to make the pace along the stand’s side rail, and after Expert Eye dropped away, no rival stepped up to challenge him. That was in great part because U S Navy Flag ran fast, his seven-furlong time of 1:22.37 over good going a course record for 2-year-olds.

By War Front out of Misty For Me, by Galileo, U S Navy Flag, a brother to multiple Group 1 winner Roly Poly, won just once in his first seven starts but now has captured three straight Group stakes, and he is surely to be among the favorites if he shows up next month at Del Mar.