Aidan O'Brien.
Could Ernest Hemingway write Irish master trainer Aidan O'Brien back into the Melbourne Spring Carnival script?
The Tipperary-based horseman has given Victoria the cold shoulder for the past five years, ever since he fell foul of local chief steward Terry Bailey after the latter recalled O'Brien to Flemington for a grilling hours after the Melboune Cup had been run and won following the disappointing performances of his trio of raiders - Septimus, Alessandro Volta and Honolulu - in 2008.
But his four-year-old galloper Ernest Hemingway, an easy five-length winner of the Group 3 Curragh Cup over 2800 metres on Sunday at the headquarters of Irish racing, could be just the sort of horse to end the Coolmore trainer's exile if he was minded to make the long trip to Melbourne once again.
The son of Galileo was having only his sixth start in a race and his first over an extended trip when he careered away with the Euro 62,500 prize, winning by five lengths from a previous Irish St Leger winner Royal Diamond, with Dermot Weld's promising mare Voleuse De Coeurs - who had been touted as a potential Cup candidate herself - back in third spot.
O'Brien agreed that the lightly raced coltm who showed a terrific turn of foot to go clear inside the final furlong, might be an ideal sort of candidate for the Flemington race, but stopped short of saying the $6 million staying test was on his radar.
"He had run once over a mile and a half (2400 metres) but we used him in the Arc (as a pacemaker) and it wasn't a fair trial. He's a very good moving horse, and he showed good acceleration." O'Brien said
He suggested that the rich Ebor Handicap at York (often a good proving ground for potential Cups raiders) or the Irish St Leger (won by Cup runner up Red Cadeaux in 2011) might be his more immediate targets.
No comments:
Post a Comment