Aidan O’Brien refuted his son Joseph’s claim to victory, as The Euphrates clinched a significant wager in the Friends of the Curragh Irish Cesarewitch held on Sunday, which carried a €600,000 prize money. The 7-2 favourite horse, ridden by Ryan Moore, managed to beat A Piece Of Heaven by half-length, in what is known to be the wealthiest handicap race in Europe. This again put the O’Brien pair in domination of another high stakes race during the Curragh’s autumn weekend.
In the preceding race on Saturday, Joseph managed to surpass his father with his horse, Apples And Bananas, winning Europe’s richest competition for two-year-old horses, the Goffs Million, carrying a €500,000 top prize.
A day later, O’Brien decided to run seven of the total 30 runners in the Cesarewitch race. The Euphrates, his only candidate, triumphed with debut blinkers in his primary handicap competition, where he gears up six pounds in on adjusted official rankings.
Just two weeks before, Moore guided the three-year-old horse to the fourth spot in the Irish Leger. This time, the duo maintained a solid pace and persistently forged ahead to lead the race.
This triumph further established the O’Brien family’s supremacy over the two-mile handicap, especially after its high-profile sponsorship in the past three years. Previously, Waterville emerged victorious in 2022, with Magellan Strait following up with an unexpected 150-1 win last season.
Although the considerable awards of the weekend did not yield the anticipated ‘underdog’ victories, the Cesarewitch’s outcome unveiled a widely supported victor. Aidan O’Brien later expressed his satisfaction with the victory, acknowledging the excellent positioning by Ryan and stating that The Euphrates’ run in Leger was indeed noteworthy.
As an ascending equine, the horse has shown potential for a Cup race. The horse’s ability to maintain a solid two-mile pace, coupled with an air of sophistication, allowed him to remain robust throughout the stages, frequently performing at 12 seconds per furlong, a challenging feat in such contests.
The O’Brien-Moore team got their moment in the sun during the weekend as their horse, The Euphrates, emerged as the standout of a quartet of heavily favoured horses. Heavens Gate barely clinched the Group Three Weld Park Stakes, providing a nice complement to their novice winners Shackleton and Aftermath.
There is a planned trajectory for Shackleton towards the prestigious Group One Criterium de Saint Cloud, scheduled for October 27. Jockey Ryan’s candid approach led to a simplistic yet effective strategy. He admitted encountering strong headwinds during the race made it difficult but also noted the horse was only idling, indicating a less than ideal race strategy.
Trainer O’Brien has set his sights on the upcoming Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for his horse Los Angeles with hopes that the soil in Paris may favour another potential entrant, Auguste Rodin. “I kept Auguste Rodin in training hoping for a fast ground, the odds of this happening are slim though. However, I didn’t do that last year and missed out when conditions were perfect,” explained O’Brien. He intends to add Continuous and Luxembourg to his racing roster for the Arc.
High-ranking female horse, Opera Singer, may be directed towards the Prix de l’Opera, while Kyprios, champion of the 2022 Cadran, has ambitions for a repeat performance.
Trainer Ger Lyons expressed disappointment after Babouche’s poor performance in the Cheveley Park at Newmarket behind Lake Victoria, but found a silver lining with My Mate Alfie’s Group Three win in the Renaissance Stakes. Lyons acknowledged that Babouche couldn’t handle the terrain, although he remains hopeful with a promising group of three-year-old horses on the horizon.
Despite narrowly missing the win in the major race, Joseph O’Brien, whose horse Al Riffa competed in the Arc, savoured a dual victory in the Nursery as Montpellier Green triumphed over Desmond Castle. A fairly sparse gathering of 3,900 spectators braved the gusty conditions at the headquarters on Sunday, in comparison to Saturday’s crowd of 4,100. These numbers starkly contrasted with the officially recorded attendance at the Listowel festival, which concluded the previous day. Roughly 96,000 people participated in the week-long agricultural fest, with nearly 29,000 in attendance for the special ladies’ day event on Friday.