ST NICHOLAS ABBEY managed a brilliant performance under Joseph O’Brien to successfully defend the Diamond Jubilee Coronation Cup at Epsom on Saturday afternoon.
Aidan O’Brien’s charge may have suffered an unlikely defeat to Windsor Palace on his reappearance at the Curragh but he was back on top form.
Sent off as the 8-11 favourite, St Nicholas Abbey settled near the rear in the early stages of the mile-and-a-half contest but had plenty in reserve when eased closer to the front around the home bend.
O’Brien junior then shot the Breeders’ Cup Turf hero into a clear lead and won from Red Cadeaux – who came from the back to finish second – by four and a half lengths.
The winning jockey said: “When he goes to sleep early in his races, he’s a very special horse. He has always shown a lot of ability and he’s really coming back to his old form.
“I got to the front too soon as he picked up going past the four-furlong marker and I didn’t want to disappoint him.
“When he relaxes and quickens up like that, it takes a very good one to go near him.”
“He settled lovely and got into a great rhythm. Joseph just didn’t break it then when he started to come, so it was great,” Aidan O’Brien added.
“He has the option of the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Ascot and he has the option of the King George, then obviously there is the Arc at the end of the year. He’s a very exciting horse.”
