ST NICHOLAS ABBEY, the unbeaten European champion juvenile and red-hot favourite for both the 2,000 Guineas and the Epsom Derby, pleased his trainer Aidan O’Brien in a piece of work after racing at the Curragh yesterday evening. However, classic plans for the Guineas at Newmarket appear to remain less than clear-cut.
A total of 20 O’Brien-trained horses galloped in three separate groups yesterday with St Nicholas Abbey among a pack of 10 – that also included the Irish Derby winner Fame And Glory – in the first group.
The Racing Post Trophy winner was ridden by Sam Curling who rides him in all his work at Ballydoyle and after settling in behind for most of the mile, St Nicholas Abbey was pulled out to the stands rail and quickened nicely in the soft ground. He finished alongside Mikhail Glinka (Joseph O’Brien) who worked noticeably well while Johnny Murtagh was in behind on the four-year-old Age Of Aquarius who was withdrawn when favourite on the eve of last year’s St Leger. “Everybody seemed pleased and it’s gone according to plan,” O’Brien said afterwards.
Asked if St Nicholas Abbey is being prepared for the Guineas, the champion trainer added: “We are looking at it but there is a long way to go and we will have to sit down, study it and discuss it with everyone.” Murtagh rode another unbeaten colt, Cape Blanco, over almost seven furlongs but he could finish only fourth in a group of seven horses, behind both the Dewhurst runner-up Fencing Master and the Phoenix Stakes winner Alfred Nobel who finished well.
“In terms of the Guineas picture we have horses like Fencing Master, St Nicholas Abbey, Cape Blanco, Beethoven, Lord High Admiral, Alfred Nobel and possibly Mikhail Glinka who worked well,” said O’Brien. “Jan Vermeer is only just in the Guineas picture as he got a stone bruise and we hope he can catch up. Steinbeck has had a setback, will be out for two weeks and won’t run in the English Guineas.”
Another horse that will miss Newmarket is the filly Lillie Langtry who fractured a knee at the Breeders’ Cup. “She is cantering away and hopefully she might make the Irish Guineas,” said O’Brien. The Ballydoyle trainer said he is satisfied with the stage his hugely-powerful string are at after the winter and as well as an impressive classic team to pick from in 2010 O’Brien also has a strong older-horse brigade this year.
Rip Van Winkle was among those who worked yesterday, noticeably without shoes, after the litany of foot problems that interrupted his three-year-old campaign. Fame And Glory may reappear in the Mooresbridge Stakes back at the Curragh next month or he could immediately try and make a Group One impact as a four-year-old by lining up for the Prix Ganay at Longchamp, a race won by Ballydoyle with both Dylan Thomas and Duke Of Marmalade.
