Rarely does a weekend go by where Aidan O’Brien isn’t trying to plunder some prize far removed from his Ballydoyle base and this one is no different as he saddles a pair of big-race contenders in the US tonight.
yan Moore makes the trip to New York to partner Bolshoi Ballet in the €850,000 Belmont Derby (10.12) – a race his trainer won five years ago with Deauville – having disappointed when favourite for the Epsom Derby.
The American raid doesn’t stop there as the hugely exciting Santa Barbara tackles the earlier Belmont Oaks (9.06) – a race O’Brien landed with Athena in 2018 – having been just touched off in the Group One Pretty Polly Stakes last time out.
The scale of O’Brien’s success on French soil has been nothing short of extraordinary this season with St Mark’s Basilica bagging a pair of Classics before Broome secured a first Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud last weekend under Colin Keane.
All eyes will be on Deauville tomorrow as O’Brien bids to add yet another Group One to his glittering CV in the Prix Jean Prat (2.50) with Wembley and Battleground as Keane hopes to continue his scintillating form on the latter after his fine third in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Joseph O’Brien’s Thunder Moon adds another layer of Irish intrigue at the Normandy track while Ken Condon sends over last year’s Railway Stakes winner Laws Of Indices with the Curragh handler also eyeing Listed Prix Kistena (4.0) success with Teresa Mendoza.
It’s also a big day for Oisín Orr as he partners Archie Watson’s Mehmento in the Jean Prat before the Donegal jockey combines with the English trainer again aboard Elvic in the Prix Amandine (3.25) with the Listed event also featuring Jessica Harrington’s Loch Lein.
Closer to home, tomorrow’s Group Three Brownstown Stakes (3.20) at Fairyhouse is the highlight of a busy Irish weekend with Paddy Twomey’s Pearls Galore given a tentative vote under Billy Lee in an open heat while Sligo’s jumps card throws up a truly novel story.
Cork trainer Liam Burke returns to the saddle at the Connacht track in the concluding bumper (5.25) when partnering his own Shumard, some 12,112 days since landing his last winner at Killarney in 1988, with the Mallow handler now in his 60s.