AIDAN O’BRIEN TRAINED the first three home in today’s English 1,000 Guineas with Minding justifying 11-10 favouritism from stablemates Ballydoyle and Alice Springs.
For the master Irish trainer this was a perfect pick-me-up after the bafflingly below-par performance of his odds-on favourite Air Force Blue in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.
Ryan Moore sent Minding to the front two furlongs out and from that stage the fillies’ mile classic was effectively over as a contest as she strode out resolutely to the line.
Ballydoyle, a 15-2 shot, racing towards the rear early on, forged up the inside to snatch second from Alice Springs (16-1) in the dying strides.
“Obviously they are three very top-class fillies and I’m delighted with the result — we thought that they were three very good fillies and it’s a marvellous result,” O’Brien told Channel 4 Racing.
“We always thought this was a very good filly, but a lot of people who have put a lot of hard work into her — she’s something to really look forward to.”
Moore said: “She’s out on her own, really. It wouldn’t have been the plan (to race so prominently), we didn’t go that quick early on but she hit the gates very well and I didn’t want to be taking her back.
“I was expecting a bit more speed in the race. She’s just faster than them and stays better than them. She’s faster than them all.”
Minding’s performance impressed bookmakers who installed her as the odds-on favourite for the Oaks at Epsom next month.
But tantalisingly she could be considered up to tackling the colts in the Derby for which she is as short as 5-2 with a run.
