Derby Plans Shaping Up for Aidan O'Brien
Derby Plans Shaping Up for Aidan O'Brien
Aidan O’Brien speaks to At The Races about his Derby Plans…
Aidan O’Brien is in no rush to finalise running plans as he goes in search of a third victory in the Investec Derby at Epsom on 6th June. One thing you can be sure of is that he will have more than 1 horse running!
The stable have swept just about all before them in the trials for The Derby, with Fame And Glory winning the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial and Black Bear Island edging out stablemate Freemantle in the Dante Stakes at York. They also won at Chester and Lingfield and it all adds up to a domination of The Derby. Racing Diary believes Aidan O’Brien will win The Derby with Fame and Glory but could have the first 5 home.
Aidan O’Brien also has likes of Rip Van Winkle and Age Of Aquarius entered in The Derby and has strength in depth like no one has ever seen, as usual O’Brien is modest about his chances; O’Brien told At The Races;
“The horses have run well and the ones who ran early improved from their first run to their second run. The ones that didn’t win their trials still ran well so it’s so far so good. We’ll just see what will happen in the next week of 10 days. Everyone is saying that Fame And Glory was the most impressive winner and obviously we see the same as everybody else sees. Rip Van Winkle ran in the Guineas and we were very happy with his run. He had a very interrupted preparation for the Guineas and ran a real good race. Since then he pulled off a shoe and was a little bit tender for a few days but other than that everything was fine with him. He’s a very balanced horse with a lot of natural speed. He’s got a great stride and is a very determined horse, so you wouldn’t think there should be any problems with Epsom.”
Black Bear Island beat Freemantle at York and both horses are still under consideration for The Derby. O’Brien continued;
“We liked Black Bear Island a lot last year. He had a run in France first time this year and Johnny (Murtagh) was very happy with him in what was a very slowly run race. We thought that he would come forward from that and he did. The horse Johnny rode in the Dante, Freemantle, he ran a great race as well and he should come forward from that run, too.”
The crucial news delivered by O’Brien is; “They are all very eligible Epsom horses at the moment but the decision on what runs is a little bit away still because they all have to go through their work. Everyone’s input will be taken on board but we are in a privileged position to have horses that have come through their trials the way they have.”
Aidan O’Brien is responsible for nine of the remaining 20 entries in the Investec Derby.
