By Daithi Harvey
Aidan O'Brien issued a clean bill of health for all his Champions Day runners from Ascot on Saturday while also hinting that retirement could be on the cards for this year's G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. winner Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The triple Group 1 winner who is out of a Classic winner in Halfway To Heaven (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) finished fifth behind Cracksman (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in the G1 QIPCO Champion S. Suggesting she may have run her last race her trainer said on Sunday, “Rhododendron might be left alone now as she's after doing a lot. The lads will talk about it now, but she's a very important mare and she's done it at two and three.” Rhododendron and her stable-mate Hydrangea (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) were regulars in the top fillies races over the past three seasons and having won the G1 Prix de l'Opera at Chantilly last year over ten furlongs as a 3-year-old she successfully dropped down to a mile to land the Lockinge at Newbury in May. “She's a filly that, looking back at it, a mile could have been her best trip, even though she has a lot of good form over a mile and a quarter. She still ran well yesterday,” O'Brien added. The Ballydoyle trainer was successful at Ascot with Rhododendron's full-sister Magical (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 QIPCO British Champions Filly & Mare S. while he was also delighted with the performance of I Can Fly (GB) (Fastnet Rock (Aus}) who finished second to Roaring Lion (Kitten's Joy) in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. “We thought she was a Guineas filly [earlier in the year],” he said of I Can Fly. “She just lost her way in the middle but has been progressing with every run since, massive progressive as we saw, and there could still be even more to come next year,” O'Brien added.
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