Aidan O’Brien and Auguste Rodin bounce back to win Irish Champion Stakes

Aidan O’Brien is closing in on 4,000 career winners but a rejuvenated Auguste Rodin landing Saturday’s Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes might rank as the finest feat of all in his landmark 30-year career.

Having earlier this season brought Auguste Rodin back from a Guineas flop to win the Derby at Epsom, O’Brien managed perhaps an even more spectacular rejuvenation in the €1.25 million feature on Day One of the Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown.

Just seven weeks after the impeccably bred dual-Derby winner was all but pulled up in the King George at Ascot, Auguste Rodin bounced back once more with a career-defining victory on his first try at 10 furlongs.

Faith in O’Brien’s capacity to pull off the unexpected saw the colt start an 11-4 favourite despite his latest form blip.

Unbeaten Look De Vega will be targeted at Arc after landing Sunday’s French Derby

---

Derby vindication for Aidan O’Brien as City Of Troy bandwagon firmly back on the rails

---

City of Troy secures spectacular Derby win at Epsom

---

Diego Velazquez has potentially difficult double-digit French Derby draw to overcome at Chantilly

---

His stable companion, and last year’s winner, Luxembourg, was significantly backed down to 4-1 and found himself cutting out the running soon after the start.

Luxembourg took time to settle but Ryan Moore travelled notably smoothly behind him on Auguste Rodin and when they straightened up the Ballydoyle pair had the race between them.

The cross-channel pair King Of Steel and Nashwa too much ground to make up and although the latter made a notably good fist of it she had to settle for a close third.

Instead, the Ballydoyle one-two meant a fifth Irish Champion Stakes in a row for O’Brien, and a 12th in all.

At the line there was just half a length between the O’Brien pair but in Coolmore Stud’s broader commercial picture that gap was invaluable confirmation that they were in the right order for racing’s powerhouse operation.

Good as Luxembourg obviously is, Auguste Rodin’s blue-blooded pedigree makes him a unique stallion prospect.

By the legendary Japanese stallion Deep Impact out of the top-class Rhododendron, the fact Auguste Rodin has added a top-flight mile and a quarter success to his pair of Derby victories is of huge significance in bloodstock terms.

That his career has been marked by corresponding lows was a puzzle that has taken all of O’Brien’s ingenuity to work out.

Describing Auguste Rodin as “a very sensitive horse” and “a little bit peculiar” the man of the moment pointed to a flight to Ascot as one possible contributory reason for his King George flop.

O’Brien reported Auguste Rodin’s victory at Epsom in June came after he was sent by ferry across the Irish Sea and the box-ride to Foxrock on Saturday was clearly more to the colt’s liking.

Referencing his Ascot flop, O’Brien said: “I suppose everything went wrong. The ground went against him, he was drawn wide, we turned it into a Leger and he’s a horse that’s all class, we flew.

“There was so many reasons that it could go wrong and, if even half of those changed the other way, we knew we had a big shout today.

“He went by boat to Epsom and that was one of the common denominators that weren’t stacking up, the flying. Maybe if he flies again he needs to go with a little bit of time, and a little bit of time to get over it.

“He’s a very brilliant horse, very tough and very hardy, but he’s a little bit peculiar. Anne-Marie [O’Brien’s wife] was watching him in the stable and if something is happening in his environment he stays awake all night and doesn’t sleep.

“He’s probably a very sensitive horse and takes in everything.”

Fears about potential testing ground in Paris next month might see Auguste Rodin skip the Arc in favour of a very long flight indeed for November’s Breeders Cup at Santa Anita in Los Angeles.

Despite Auguste Rodin’s value, there appears to be a willingness to give him at least one more race before retiring to stud.

“The lads [owners] never panicked in any way. Everyone knows what he’s worth and how important he is to breed and it was very easy to say ‘that’s the end’ but they never did,” O’Brien pointed out.

“I know the lads love the Breeders Cup and there is probably a good chance he’ll go there. That is very possible. I’d say it would be for the Turf, I’d be afraid of the dirt just in case anything happened,” he added.

The Breeders Cup is also on Tahiyra’s radar after Dermot Weld’s brilliant filly landed a fourth career Group One victory in the Coolmore Matron Stakes.

The 5-6 favourite travelled beautifully through the mile contest under Chris Hayes before comfortably holding Rogue Millenium in the closing stages.

A step up from a mile could be in the offing in the Filly & Mare Turf at Santa Anita in November, hardly surprising since her half-sister Tarnawa was a Breeders Cup winner in 2020. The latter’s late career peak means keeping Tahiyra in training next year is also being seriously considered.

“All the pressure was on this filly, she’d won the Guineas and won at Royal Ascot. Some of the other fillies she’d beaten had fallen by the wayside, but she keeps winning,” Weld said.

Hayes was winning the Matron for a second time, 10 years after landing it with La Collina.

The Ballydoyle team wound up the first day of the Champions Festival with a black-type hat-trick and another one-two in the apparent right order according to the market came in the KPMG Juvenile Stakes won last year by Auguste Rodin.

However, bookmaker reaction that pushed out Diego Velazquez’s odds for next year’s Guineas underlined a winning performance that at best could be described as workmanlike.

On the back of his winning debut, the flashy looking Ballydoyle colt started 8-15 but needed all of the straight, and a powerful Ryan Moore drive, to get the better of his stable companion Capulet by a neck.

Like Luxembourg in the big race, Seamus Heffernan cut out the running on Capulet and the 9-1 shot proved notably resolute as the pair went clear of the opposition.

If the favourite eventually got to the front, there was plenty to like about the runner-up’s performance too with Moore visually appearing a lot busier in the last 100 metres than Heffernan.

“Ryan was delighted, he said he had to catch hold of him and make him learn. He’s still a baby.

“We were surprised the first day that he ran in the Curragh how babyish he was, he never took a hold of the bridle.

“Today he was green as well, but a lot better. We think the race will leave him in a very good place. I’d imagine he’ll go for the Futurity Trophy [Doncaster], that’s what we thought he would do,” O’Brien said.

It was Moore’s turn to dominate the Group Three Paddy Power Stakes on Adelaide River.

Runner up to Auguste Rodin in the Irish Derby, and also second in the Grand Prix de Paris, the strapping 11-8 favourite was described as a “next year horse” by O’Brien.

Although Frankie Dettori was out of luck on Saturday, one Italian on the mark was Co Armagh-based trainer Natalia Lupini who continued her best ever season with a maiden Champions Festival success through Kitty Rose in the Listed Ingabelle Stakes.

Originally from Milan, Lupini first came to Ireland as a trainer and opted to begin her training career here with a first winner in 2016.

Kitty Rose was an 11th winner of 2023 and emerged as a credible classic prospect for next year after proving much too strong for the favourite Content.

“It’s a great achievement for everyone, for the lads working in the yard and for the owners as well. Everyone puts in so much effort so it’s great for everyone,” beamed Lupini who is expecting her first child next month.

The filly’s syndicate owners turned down interest after her winning debut at Naas and are targeting a classic dream in next year’s 1,000 Guineas.

Lupini came close to a famous double in the concluding handicap but her hope Dunum had to give best to Broadhurst who completed a four-timer on the card for O’Brien and Moore.