THERE IS AN air of calm about the place. Horses and riders, all at ease at the walk. All uniform, a red and black striped rug on every horse, every rider all in black except for the maroon cap that crowns every helmet. To the average human eye, from this remove, all the horses look similar, equine athletes during the warm-up, except maybe The Antarctic (the grey one). To Aidan O’Brien, however, the slim figure standing in the centre, each horse has his or her own unique characteristics.
“They’re like humans,” he told you once as he identified each horse that came towards you, by name or breeding or both, and by character. “They are all different. They are all individuals.”
It’s an exciting time of year at Ballydoyle. Last Saturday, on the day that Aidan O’Brien sent Broome to Meydan to win the Dubai Gold Cup, some of the potential Ballydoyle stars of the 2023 flat season had an away day at The Curragh, doing a little bit of work after racing. The Irish turf flat season started that day, and it rolls on from here until the autumn, until the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October or the Breeders’ Cup in November or the Hong Kong International races in December. Take your pick. It’s a long season. For now, it’s all about the potential that is bursting out of the horses who are going through their paces on the gallop in front of the assembled members of the media.
“You see the horses progressing physically (during the off season),” says Aidan O’Brien. “But you don’t know whether that progression will transfer into work. Some do very well. When you start working them, you know straight away, they’re bigger, stronger and better. You’re never sure until you start, but it is exciting really.”
The Guineas is always high among the Ballydoyle priorities at this stage of the season and, in that context, Little Big Bear and Auguste Rodin are high on the list. Little Big Bear eased through the ranks last season, winning his maiden at Naas in May before going to Royal Ascot and winning the Windsor Castle Stakes. Bestowed with pace in abundance, he had to show a lot of resolution too that day, he hit the front on the far side just inside the two-furlong marker and he had to do a lot of running on his own over there, keeping on well to get home by a neck in the end.
The No Nay Never colt won the Group 3 Anglesey Stakes at The Curragh next time, and he rounded off his season by winning the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes back at The Curragh. He showed lots of speed last season, he is a Group 1 winner over six furlongs and he never went beyond six and a half. However, his dam won a listed race over 10 and a half furlongs, and his trainer is hopeful that he will get the Guineas trip all right.
“He would be very comfortable going back sprinting,” says Aidan, “but he relaxes very well, and there is a good chance that he will get a mile.”
Auguste Rodin is different. He started out over seven furlongs last season, he won his maiden over seven, and we already know that he stays a mile at least. He won the Group 2 KPMG Champions’ Juvenile Stakes over that trip at Leopardstown on Irish Champions’ Weekend last year, and he rounded off his season by winning the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Stakes at Doncaster.
He had to overcome adversity to win that race. The ground was heavy for starters, and that wouldn’t have suited the good-moving son of Deep Impact. His trainer said that they almost took him out of the race because of the ground. As well as that, he was settled in the small near-side group early on, third of three in a group that was headed by his stable companion Salt Lake City, and they were well behind the larger far-side group at half way.
The Chesham Stakes winner Holloway Boy kicked for home on the far side from outside the two-furlong marker and, consequently, Ryan Moore had to commit August Rodin then, probably earlier than ideal. But Aidan O’Brien’s horse had the talent and the tenacity to overcome all. He hit the front at the furlong marker, and he cleared away to win by three and a half lengths.
“You’d imagine Auguste Rodin will have no bother stretching out to a mile and a quarter or a mile and a half,” says the champion trainer. “He’s that type of horse. He’s the type that could start in the Guineas and stretch out.”
Statuette had a little bit of a hold-up, her trainer tells you, and it is unlikely that she will make it to the 1000 Guineas, but she’s there all right, riding out, so hopefully she will be back on the racecourse soon. In her absence, Meditate is ideally placed to be the Ballydoyle number one in the first fillies’ Classic at Newmarket in early May, and Aidan O’Brien is happy with where she is at present. Winner of five of her seven races last season, including the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf at Keeneland, and second in the other two, she is bang on track for Newmarket.
“She’s a very professional filly,” says her trainer. “She’s not over-big, but she’s strong. The plan is to go straight to Newmarket with her.”
That is a plan that has precedent. Aidan O’Brien has won the 1000 Guineas seven times, including five times in the last seven years, and four of those seven winners – four of his last five – went to Newmarket without a prep run. The champion trainer has won the 2000 Guineas 10 times, more times than any other trainer in the history of the race, and each one of the 10 was making his seasonal debut at Newmarket.
“I suppose the weather can be wet, the ground can be very soft. And often to win those trials, you might have to be a little bit harder on them than you would ideally like to be, so it’s kind of better if we can do our own trials and give them their own day away, and that’s where The Curragh comes in. We always feel that it sets them up very well.”
All set for the season ahead.