It looks almost certain that Michael Kinane will get the chance to fill the one major gap in his big-race collection on the brilliant Galileo in the Budweiser Irish Derby. Aidan O'Brien yesterday reported Galileo to be fine after his superb victory in the Vodafone Epsom Derby and suggested the unbeaten colt will not now be dropped in trip for his next race.
"It looks a strong possibility that Galileo will run in the Irish Derby," said O'Brien. "Everybody is kind of wanting him to go for it and we are leaning towards that. The Irish Derby is a huge race and a very important race at home."
Immediately after Galileo's three-and-a-half length defeat of the other 11 to 4 joint favourite, Golan, O'Brien had suggested a drop back to 10 furlongs in the Eclipse would be next on the agenda but that looks increasingly unlikely.
It will be good news to Kinane, who has won seven Irish classics during his illustrious career but never the Derby which this year will be run on July 1st. The 41-year-old jockey was winning the Epsom Derby for the second time on Saturday and left no one in doubt as to how highly he rates racing's latest superstar.
"I think this fellah can be great. He's the best Derby horse I've ever ridden, the best three-year-old at that distance, and once I kicked in the race, the others were history," said Kinane who also won Friday's Oaks on the O'Brien-trained Imagine.
Galileo's long-term aim however is in New York and the Breeders' Cup Classic on dirt at the end of the season, a race that Giant's Causeway was controversially just beaten in last year.
"That is his long-term target. It is a very important race and I would have no worries with this horse on dirt," said O'Brien yesterday. "He will probably miss the Eclipse, but go shorter in trip after the Irish Derby. It will be races from a mile to 10 furlongs, like the Queen Elizabeth Stakes."
The Breeders' Cup presents the intriguing possibility of a clash between America's top colt, Point Given, who won the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, and Galileo, who was almost swamped with praise after his own superb classic victory.
"He is extraordinary, a superstar, a very special horse," enthused O'Brien, 31, who joined training legends like Henry Cecil (1999 and 1985) and Dick Hern (1980) by saddling both the Oaks and Derby winners in the same year.
Yesterday the Ballydoyle trainer described Galileo as "a very serious racehorse" but declined to describe the son of Sadler's Wells as the best he has trained during his short but spectacular career.
"I don't like to make comparisons. He is an unbelievably talented colt with so much speed," said O'Brien, who has notched up a first Epsom Derby triumph from the same Co Tipperary yard which housed six Epsom heroes trained by the legendary Vincent O'Brien.
