'Is He a Classic Horse?': O'Brien Seeking Answers to the Big Question

ROSEGREEN, Ireland — It's that time of year again. The countdown to the Classics. Better than Christmas.

And there are few better ways to indulge dreams of what may be about to unfold in the coming weeks than by annoying Aidan O'Brien for a morning at Ballydoyle. He must find it irksome, all these pesky journalists turning up, as surely as the first swallow of spring. But if he does, he hides it well, and almost seems to revel in sharing what he clearly finds the most rewarding part of his job – watching the horses in their morning exercise.

It would be hard not to enjoy this daily cavalcade of some of the best-bred horses in the world, high-blowing their way past in a brisk canter and wandering back down the wood-chipped hill to repeat that task. Their riders are wired for sound back to the boss, and a reminder of the regality of their genes is emblazoned onto their saddle cloths and sheets. Where once there was a liberal sprinkling of the letter G to denote the many sons and daughters of Galileo (Ire) in the string, now it is more common to find F – his son Frankel (GB) – or indeed WB, Coolmore's big-money signing of a few years ago, Wootton Bassett (GB).

There is still the odd G about. Kyprios (Ire), of course, the stable's mighty stayer who is back for more and reportedly as enthusiastic as ever at the age of seven, not to mention recent Leopardstown maiden winner Stay True (Ire), one of only 13 in the late stallion's final crop.

A repeat assault on the Gold Cup at Ascot is Kyprios's major early-season target but O'Brien drops a tantalising hope of a somewhat different autumn finale for the eight-time Group 1 winner who is raced by Coolmore in partnership with his breeder Moyglare Stud.

“We're over the moon with Kyprios,” he says. “We think he's forward. He is going to go to Navan and Leopardstown then Ascot, and if we got into the year as far as we got last year we might have a look at the Arc this year instead of going to the Cadran.

“His whole demeanour hasn't changed at all since he was a two-year-old.”

This being spring, however, we are really here to talk about the Classics, and in particular the quintet staged in England, all of which are now sponsored by Betfred, which is offering a £2 million bonus for a colt to win the Betfred Triple Crown.

We passed one on the way in – Nijinsky, commemorated in bronze at the entrance to Ballydoyle, not far from a similar memorial in Rosegreen to the man who trained him, MV O'Brien. That was back in 1970 and the wait goes on for the next Triple Crown winner, despite the best efforts of Camelot (GB) in 2012.

Only time will tell if there is one among the Ballydoyle ranks this year but among the most pressing of O'Brien's decisions to be made in the coming weeks will be in regard to which of the colts will go where. The G1 Criterium International winner and current Betfred 2,000 Guineas favourite Twain (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) does appear to be heading to Newmarket, while G1 Dewhurst runner-up Expanded (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) could remain at home for the Irish version. The two horses each made their debut in October and progressed straight into Group 1 company on their next starts, six days and seven days later, respectively.

“Obviously Twain is a Group 1 winner so if the two are going well at the time I'd imagine that we might let Expanded go to the Curragh to start in the Irish Guineas Trial and Twain could go straight into the Guineas,” he says.

“Twain never saw a horse in his maiden. The plan was to drop him in and to educate him but he jumped out and that was it, he won six lengths. So he really only went to France after having a racecourse gallop, because he went around by himself. Ryan [Moore] rode him in France and he was very green but he won very nicely.”

O'Brien adds, “It was a hard thing to ask them to do, for both of them to back up six or seven days later. Expanded was going to the Dewhurst for experience for next year but when The Lion In Winter came out he got put in the front line unfairly and then there were't many runners in the race and he got into a duel with the third horse three furlongs down. So it was very hard on him what happened but he still ran a massive race.”

The other pair of Wootton Bassett colts, Camille Pissarro (Ire) and Henri Matisse (Ire), are likely to be seen in the G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains.

“We thought that race would suit them because it's around the bend and down the hill, whereas the English Guineas is on a straight at Newmarket which can de more demanding. That's the way we are thinking of splitting them up,” says the trainer.

The destinations for last season's champion two-year-old filly Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) and the G3 Killavullan Stakes winner Exactly (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), who was twice placed in Group 1s last year, depend on how quickly the returning champion steps forward.

O'Brien says, “Exactly is after having a run so the plan will be to go [to the 1,000 Guineas] and Lake Victoria is on the way back. We stepped her up a couple of weeks ago and she's really coming. She could be there in time. If she wasn't she would go to the Curragh [for the Guineas Trial], but it's very possible that she could be there in time and if that happens Exactly could go to the French Guineas.”

Lake Victoria and Dean Gallagher | Emma Berry

Erstwhile favourite The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) is sidestepping the 2,000 Guineas but he will return instead to York, where he was last seen winning the G3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes.

“The Lion In Winter is going to the Dante,” says O'Brien. “We're very happy with him. He's 80-90 per cent for the Dante and if that goes well then we will see whether they want to go to the Derby with him.

“He's a straightforward horse, and he's not slow. Most of the Sea The Stars [horses] seem to stay very well and we need to see if he stays. Obviously if he goes a mile and a quarter in the Dante we'll have a little idea.”

He adds of recent G3 Ballysax Stakes winner Delacroix (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), “He will go back to Leopardstown for the Derrinstown [Derby Trial] and then he could go [to Epsom], and if Twain won the Guineas the lads would probably want to go to the Derby with him for obvious reasons.”

Also heading to Epsom, more immediately for the Blue Riband Trial on April 22, is Trinity College (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}).

The last time we saw the Niarchos family's colours carried to victory in the Oaks was with the emotional 2007 success of Light Shift, trained by Henry Cecil. O'Brien puts forward a daughter of American Pharoah raced in partnership with the family's Flaxman Stables as a “dark” horse for this year's fillies' Classic at Epsom.

He says, “Dreamy (Ire) is a filly that could be an Oaks filly. She's a very big price but she's a real mile-and-a-half filly. And the filly that ran at the Curragh, [Whirl (Ire)], they'll step up in trip and they'll be better going up, but Dreamy is kind of a dark filly.”

Dreamy, winner of the G3 Newtown Anner Stud Irish EBF Stakes and fourth in the G1 Fillies' Mile, could be seen first in a trial at Chester or York, while Ballet Slippers (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}, the first foal of Magical (Ire) who finished just ahead of Dreamy in the Fillies' Mile, is also being aimed towards Epsom eventually.

With the sun outbattling the clouds to make a tardy appearance for second lot, it is hard to disagree with O'Brien when he asserts, “The horses are forward and well and they're fairly fit. There's three weeks to go.”

Stripped of their saddles and exercise sheets for a post-exercise roll, the Ballydoyle battalions do indeed look forward in their coats and raring to go. As the press gaggle closes in for question time and the horses pick grass in the background, their trainer takes to the microphone and asks the pack with a grin, “What will I sing?”

Every now and then an alarm buzzes in his pocket and he issues instructions to the riders through his walkie-talkie, even the period of relaxation for his charges timed to the minute.

“It's all little decisions all the time at every minute of the day,” says O'Brien of his role at the head of some 300 staff at Ballydoyle. “Some of the decisions are wrong, some of the horses I might lean on a little too much and some not enough.

“You do enjoy it because you love it and that's what you love doing – watching them and listening to everyone about them and working out their minds. But the problem is then they have to go and race. There'd be no pressure if they didn't have to go to the races.”

He continues, “In sport, everyone knows about failure, disappointment…victory. I'm always surprised when they win – shocked, because there's so many things that can go wrong, so many variables that you can't control. For it to happen, when it does happen, I'm always delighted for the lads, who put in an awful lot, and for the people working with the horses.”

Those people working with the horses right under our noses this bright morning feature plenty of former stars of the weighing-room, including Adrian Maguire and Dean Gallagher (the latter the rider of Lake Victoria and Kyprios).

O'Brien adds, “Everything is about the people. All I do every day is go round to see everybody and try to keep everybody communicating. Everybody gets sick of me calling out people's names but they are the ones that are making it happen.”

Communication beyond the walls of Ballydoyle is another important part of his daily life, to the core team of owners who either breed or buy the procession of bluebloods sent into O'Brien's care.

He says, “The first thing the boss wants to know is, is he a Classic horse?”

With Ballydoyle housing the favourites for the 2,000 Guineas and Derby once more, we won't have to wait too long for that question to be answered.