French Classic success for Breeders’ Cup winner Henri Matisse provided highlight of 17 winners in seven days for world-leading trainer Aidan O’Brien, who dominated Derby trials on both sides of the Irish Sea
After Godolphin’s spectacular transatlantic double-double over the Kentucky Derby weekend, it didn’t take long for the empire to strike back.
The Coolmore empire, that is, who swept all before them last week in Europe with a series of Classic trial victories – plus one actual Classic victory via Henri Matisse – and comeback wins for a couple of their higher-profile older horses.
In total, Aidan O’Brien (stays at #1, +163pt) sent out no fewer than 17 winners in seven days to underline his dominance at the top of Thoroughbred Racing Commentary’s exclusive Global Rankings for trainers. He now has a total of 239 weeks listed at #1.
A more tangible result of Ballydoyle’s purple patch, however, was to enable Ryan Moore (#1 from #2, +54pt) to reclaim his status as #1 jockey from James McDonald, whose brief stint at the summit ends after a four-week spell.
With a boost of 158pt, the Coolmore Partnersstay at #2 on the owners’ list behind their long-term rivals Godolphin.
In prestige terms, Breeders’ Cup winner Henri Matisse (#39 from #93, +143pt) provided the highlight with a narrow victory over Jonquil in a finish dominated by the visitors in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains (French 2,000 Guineas) on Sunday’s card at ParisLongchamp.
Moore executed a masterclass on the son of Wootton Bassett, holding him up off a really strong pace before leading inside the final furlong and just holding off the runner-up’s renewed challenge.
“He doesn’t like to be in front of too long,” said O’Brien, who has now won the Classic six times; he also saddled third-placed Camille Pissarro. The winner is likely to run in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Also on the mark for the O’Brien team last week in Group company was Irish Derby winner Los Angeles, who returns to the charts at #43, who just held White Birch with a gutsy effort in the G2 Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh.
St Leger runner-up Illinois (back at #63) also made a successful seasonal debut in the G3 Ormonde Stakes at Chester, a meeting where Ballydoyle swept up the major three-year-old races, with Lambourn and Minnie Hauk winning the Chester Vase and Cheshire Oaks respectively, while Mount Kilimanjaro won the Dee Stakes.
Onto Lingfield on Saturday, where Puppet Master led home a Ballydoyle one-two from stablemate Stay True in the Derby Trial, and Giselle scored by nine lengths in an uncompetitive Oaks Trial.
To say O’Brien may well be shuffling the pack is an understatement – and where Epsom is concerned, as usual, it’s a big pack to shuffle.
And that’s before we get to the two aces, starting with Delacroix (#71 from #179, +146pt), who looks a major Derby contender after landing the G3 Leopardstown on Sunday [May 11]. The form of his Ballysax Stakes win had already been franked by Lambourn and Puppet Master; he’s now only 4-1 for the Betfred Derby.
The second ace, of course, is longtime Derby favourite The Lion In Winter, set to make his long-awaited reappearance in the Dante Stakes, generally regarded as the premier Epsom trial, on Thursday [May 15].
As a corollary to Ballydoyle’s string of victories, it will presumably come as little surprise to see their stallion roster making inroads in the turf sires’ rankings – notably 2012 Derby winner Camelot (#12 from #17, +52pt), the sire of last year’s Arc heroine Bluestocking.
Even the late, lamented Galileo (#3 from #4, +7pt), whose final crop are now part of the Classic generation, moved up a notch.
For all Ballydoyle’s exploits, bigger headlines were garnered by the controversial demotion of 18-1 outsider Shes Perfect (#114 from #1116, +408pt) after what looked a fairytale victory in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches. In their wisdom, the Paris stewards favoured runner-up Zarigana (#69 from #263, +214pt), the favoured French-trained filly carrying the famous Aga Khan silks, after she had been slightly impeded more than a furlong out.
The margin was only a nose after the favourite finished with a rattle, but it was hard not to feel sympathy for the connections of Shes Perfect. Trainer Charlie Fellowes had never trained a G1 winner – and still hasn’t – and few would have begrudged jockey Kieran Shoemark a landmark success after his recent travails.
Then we come to the owners Basher Watts Racing, a syndicate organised on social media who attended Longchamp en masse. There were tears when they won the race – and more when they lost it. Plus some catcalls and cries of “cheat” and “disgrace” … which is probably why they are appealing the result.
Zarigana’s jockey Mickael Barzalona lost his whip – and then proceeded to slap his mount more times than he would have been allowed to strike her with the whip without losing the race. If he had a whip, that is. It wasn’t entirely satisfactory, even if suggestion software a ‘hometown verdict’ were stretching things.
Be that as it may, Zarigana’s estimable trainer Francis-Henri Graffard (#29 from #47, +90pt) continues his impressive rise up the ranks.
“It was a tough few minutes and we don't like to win like this,” said the impressive Graffard. “I feel sorry for connections of Shes Perfect but this is racing and it's happened to me before.
“When Zarigana came with a run she got unbalanced at the wrong time and then only lost by a nose, so it was decided in the stewards' room.”
Slipping under the radar but up the charts is Cologne-based Henk Grewe (#44 from #64, +72pt), who recorded a Group-race double on Sunday as Flatten The Curve scored in G2 company at the Hoppegarten in Berlin while last year’s Derby Italiano winner Borna won a G3 at San Siro.
In the US, Man o’War Stakes winner Far Bridge (#47 from #62, +61pt) enters the Top 50. Such a shame to see this famous race carrying only G2 status, although the strict standards of the American Graded Stakes Committee are to be applauded. Would that other jurisdictions would behave in similar fashion to avoid grade inflation.
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• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
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