Aidan O’Brien happy with Cape Blanco for King George
For a man who has walked for the last 15 years with the spotlight as an illuminating shadow, Aidan O’Brien will arrive at Ascot tomorrow not being the centre of attention.
The Irishman has won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes three times before. This time he brings a horse who has been beaten just once in six starts and has a victory over the King George favourite, Workforce. However, Cape Blanco remains something of a dark horse.
When he won the Dante Stakes at York in May, he had Workforce three-and-a-quarter lengths behind in second place. Workforce’s performance had clearly been compromised by his own greenness, to the point where the bit was pulled completely through his mouth but the chances of Cape Blanco as a Derby prospect appeared to be discredited by the indifference shown in the performance by O’Brien’s stable jockey, Johnny Murtagh (who is replaced by Colm O'Donoghue for the King George due to suspension), who insisted that St Nicholas was still the yard’s No.1.
Even when that colt was scratched from the Derby, Cape Blanco was packed off to the Prix du Jockey Club at Chantilly. The view was that his breeding – his dam was sprinter – might prove an Achilles’ heel and the French Classic, run over an extended 10 furlongs, was a better option. As it turned out his dire performance, only 10th to Lope de Vega, would have left him with nothing but a view of Workforce disappearing in the direction of the winning post if he had run at Epsom.
Yet, after a victory in last month’s Irish Derby at the Currgah, Cape Blanco is now the three-year-old colt standard bearer for O’Brien from a crop that had promised so much in the opening weeks of the season but has markedly failed to deliver. As ever the trainer appears to maintain an equilibrium between the high and lows that surround him. “We’ve been very happy with him since the Curragh and everything has gone well so far,” he said. “We always thought very highly of him. I suppose the only blip on his copybook was France I suppose and may be we’re putting that down to an off day. The Curragh was the first time he ran over a mile-and-a-half and he showed that he had all the courage and class that we always thought he had.”
That courage was also shown in the Dante where Cape Blanco pulled up lame due to a cut heel sustained a couple of days before the race. It may be insignificant but, if Workforce had a valid excuse for being beaten by that difference, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Cape Blanco could have performed better himself? “He did finish sore,” O’Brien said. “He caught the back of his heel and he was very sore after. We were happy with him going to York but, it was his first run of the season, and like most of ours they have been coming on from their first run.
“But a few days after York he was perfect and he came out of France very well – we were very happy going to the Curragh with him,” O’Brien said as he tried to untangle the form lines that tie the two colts together.
Cape Blanco beat stable companions Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer a half-length and two lengths respectively when they were second and third in the Irish Derby while both were beaten more than 11 lengths by Workforce at Epsom. But O’Brien will point to the two front shoes that Jan Vermeer lost in the Derby and a belief that Midas Touch did not run to form at Epsom as the pair finished behind their second-placed stable companion At First Sight.
“Midas Touch had been working with At First Sight and you could judge their work at home,” O’Brien explained. “It was a funny result for us – we’re not sure what happened. There’s an awful lot of ifs, ands and buts, but Workforce’s connections can say the same thing. Some horses perform differently on different days and circumstances of races so you get different results. But it would be lovely if it’s a clear-run race and we get a good guide to what’s what and where they all fit in.”
Where Rip Van Winkle fits into the current miling scene will be clearer when he runs in the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood on Wednesday. The Galileo colt won this Group One race last year but looked a pale imitation of that horse when he finished sixth to Goldikova in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot last month on his first run of the season.
“He was just ready to start as Ascot,” O’Brien pointed out. “May be it just didn’t work out for him. He was very handy, which we wouldn’t have been worried about, but he just got very tired in the last furlong which he was entitled to do after being off for such a long time. Most of them have been getting tired for their first runs but we’ve given him plenty of time since, we’ve been very happy with his work and we’re looking forward to Goodwood with him.
“He’s definitely made a lot of improvement since Ascot and he’s on the right road now.”
Two other horses whom O’Brien will hope are back on the right road are Fame And Glory and St Nicholas Abbey, the one-time Triple Crown hopeful who has not been seen since finishing sixth in the 2000 Guineas.
Having spent most of last season taking on Sea The Stars, and losing, Fame And Glory has already won two Group One races and has the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown in September as his next prime target. “The plan is that he starts back in the Royal Whip at the Curragh. We’ve let him down and given him a good break and he’s just building back up to have a prep run hopefully to the Champion Stakes.
“St Nicholas Abbey is back cantering five days now and everything looks great with him. He’s done very well and had a good break. We won’t rush and we’ll see what will happen in the next two to three weeks and then we’ll decide where he’s going to start again.”
The spotlight may be a long way off but O’Brien still hopes that the colt can emerge from the shadows.
Tags: