O'Brien is youngest to win Breeders'Cup

[caption id="attachment_67771" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Joseph O'Brien, 18, won on St. Nicholas Abbey, trained by his dad Aidan."]

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Time is always of the essence in horse racing. This was especially true at this year's Breeders' Cup where Joseph O'Brien, all of 18 years and five months, became the youngest jockey to win a Cup race since the series began in 1984. At some near point - next year or perhaps the year after - the 5'11", 122-pound O'Brien will likely become too large to continue partnering horses on the flat, and will take, instead, to traveling over the fences. But he will forever savor Saturday's victory at Churchill Downs in the Turf on St. Nicholas Abbey, which is trained by his father, Aidan.

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The younger O'Brien showed remarkable poise for one lacking the experience of most of his colleagues in guiding his mount over 12 furlongs, saving ground early and then swinging out for the stretch drive. St. Nicholas Abbey reached the wire in front of his nearest rival by just over two lengths, and provided the elder O'Brien with his second victory of the afternoon.

Previously, Wrote, ridden by Ryan Moore, rallied to win the Juvenile Turf by the same margin as his stablemate. This was the first multiple-win Breeders' Cup enjoyed by Ballydoyle, which had four previous victories. But the triumph by St. Nicholas Abbey stood apart for the filial aspects.

"This is very special," Aidan O'Brien said after the Turf. "Unbelievable."

"It's a dream come true," said Joseph O'Brien. "I rode [St. Nicholas Abbey] twice before and this is my first time winning on him. We had a nice pace and he picked up where it mattered."

Joseph O'Brien has been riding professionally for two and one-half years now, and has one Group 1 victory in Europe to boast of. The Turf was his first appearance before an American audience, but he kept the butterflies under control.

"A certain degree of nerves," was all that O'Brien would admit to. "But I was looking forward to it more than anything else."

Michael Vincent Magnier, representing his mother as one of the owners of St. Nicholas Abbey, heaped further praise on the young jockey.

"Never saw a man as cool as ice as he was that day," said Magnier, referring to two weeks ago at Doncaster when O'Brien rode Camelot to victory in the Racing Post Stakes. "He did the same again today. To be fair, there's no better man."

Magnier has his own special lineage; he's the grandson of the late Vincent O'Brien.

St. Nicholas Abbey paid $15.60 to win, going off at a slightly higher price than Await the Dawn, another Aidan O'Brien runner that was ridden by Julien Leparoux. The win price came back $25.20 on Wrote.

Ballydoyle also enjoyed a minor award with Misty for Me, which was third in the Filly & Mare Turf. Less satisfying were performances from So You Think (sixth in the Classic), Zoffany (ninth in the Mile), and the tandem of Crusade and Daddy Long Legs, which ran sixth and 12th, respectively, in the Juvenile.

VICTORY WAS CLOSE BUT ELUSIVE

While victory remained elusive, several other Irish can reflect back on the near-success they enjoyed in the shadows of the Twin Spires. Shumoos, trained by Brian Meehan, came from seemingly out of nowhere to gain second place in the Juvenile Sprint. Trainer Gerard Butler got a third-place finish out of Pachattack in the Ladies Classic. Jockey James Graham, riding Country Day in the Turf Sprint, beat all but Regally Ready.

Both St. Nicholas Abbey and Wrote notched two more victories for the Irish breeding industry. In fact, only an interloper named Excaper prevented an Irish-bred trifecta in the Juvenile Turf, with Farraaj and Lucky Chappy taking the third and fourth spots, respectively.

One Irish-bred that didn't get to celebrate was Goldikova, the 6-year-old mare that sought her fourth straight win in the Mile. She settled, instead, for third place behind the 64-1 upset winner, Court Vision. Goldikova took a brief lead in the stretch, but surrendered soon thereafter.

"We had the race we wanted her to have," said Freddie Head, Goldikova's trainer. "She came out, looked like she was going to win for a moment. Now I don't think she can sustain the same speed. Maybe the mileage and the years have taken their toll."

The same could possibly be said for Shane Ryan's Gio Ponti, the fourth-place finisher in the Mile. Like Goldikova, he was in striking position in midstretch and then came up empty. The 6-year-old horse has probably run his last race before retirement to stud duty.

BOOKENDS BY EDDIE K

Eddie Kenneally didn't have any Breeders' Cup runners this year, but he bookended the Saturday card at Churchill, winning the first race (a first-level allowance race) with Jump Up, and doing likewise in the nightcap (the $167,400 Grade 2 Chilukki Stakes) with Buckleupbuttercup. They paid $4.00 and $10.60, respectively.

Another Waterford émigré whose colors were not represented in the Breeders' Cup is Tom Moore. But the New York attorney had to be feeling mighty good after his Summer Front rallied under Ramon Dominguez to win the King Cugat Stakes at Aqueduct on Sunday. The Kentucky-bred colt, trained by Chris Clement, paid $8.20 to win.

 

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