Idaho joins his bro as a Royal Ascot Winner
Aidan O'Brien's Idaho roared back to his best with victory in the Group Two Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The Queen's Dartmouth finished a fading fourth as Idaho claimed top honours in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The Sir Michael Stoute-trained Dartmouth carried Her Majesty's silks to a memorable victory in the Group Two contest 12 months ago and was the 9/4 favourite to repeat the feat in the hands of Ryan Moore.
For much of the mile-and-a-half journey everything seemed to be going according to plan, with Dartmouth getting a nice lead from the front-running Dal Harraild.
The crowd cheered as Dartmouth travelled powerfully into the home straight, but his effort was relatively short lived and he was ultimately well-beaten in fourth.
Aidan O'Brien's Idaho, a full-brother to Wednesday's Prince of Wales's Stakes winner Highland Reel, was sent off at 9/2 under Seamie Heffernan.
The four-year-old followed Dartmouth to the two-furlong marker before being asked to go about his business and he galloped all the way to the line to score by half a length.
Barsanti finished strongly on the outside of the field to finish second ahead of Chemical Charge in third.
The win sealed top trainer honours for the week for O'Brien.
Idaho was cut to 7/1 by Sky Bet for the King George VI Stakes back at Ascot next month.
Idaho slipped up when odds-on favourite in the St Leger in September and was last seen finishing sixth behind Highland Reel in the Coronation Cup at Epsom. O'Brien said: "We're delighted. He's a full-brother to Highland Reel and we always loved him. It was his first run of the year in the Coronation Cup. He only arrived at the track an hour before and he was very upset.
"He was very unlucky in the St Leger last year when he unseated Seamus, you couldn't believe it, he was coming down the straight on the bridle.
"He's by Galileo and they don't know when to stop improving or stop trying. It's very possible he'll progress, there's plenty of races for him. I think he gets a mile and a half well, he galloped out very well and those races are open to him.
"It (King George) is a possibility for him, the lads will decide what they want to do in a week or 10 days, but it's a very strong possibility. Seamus gave him a peach of a ride, he's a world-class rider. He timed his run to perfection."
On being crowned leading trainer, O'Brien added: "We're obviously in a very privileged position to be working with such people and horses. It's a lot of hard work by a lot of people day in and day out.
"I'm very lucky to be able to go home every night (from Ascot). We're at home at 8.30pm every night and it's great to be able to do it. We look forward to going home, seeing the horses in the morning and then come racing. It's marvellous really."
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Scintillating September at Royal Ascot
Aidan O'Brien claimed his fifth Royal Ascot winner of the week as September justified favouritism in the Chesham Stakes.
September ran down gallant front-runner Nyaleti to justify 11/8 favouritism in the Listed Chesham Stakes.
Aidan O'Brien's filly left a big impression when making a successful debut at Leopardstown earlier in the month and was the 11/8 market leader for the opening contest on the final day of the Royal meeting.
Mark Johnston's Nyaleti, bidding to follow up a debut win at Salisbury just six days ago, set a strong gallop from the off and had the majority of the field in trouble soon after halfway in the seven furlong event.
Masar moved into second but couldn't latch on to the leader, while September was just getting rolling for Ryan Moore and steadily wore down the pace-setter before drawing two and a quarter lengths clear for an ultimately convincing success.
Nyaleti battle bravely all the way to the line and held on to second from Masar by a short head.
Sky Bet make September 5/1 (from 14s) for the 1000 Guineas next year and also cut the well-bred daughter of Deep Impact from 25/1 to 6/1 for the Oaks and PR Racing Manager Michael Shinners said: "September may need further than a mile next season but she was pretty impressive against the colts and has gone straight to the top of the market for the fillies' Classics at Newmarket and Epsom next year."
Ryan Moore: "She travelled like the winner the whole way, the Johnston horse went a good gallop and kept going, but I was always confident I would win. Her mother (Peeping Fawn) got better with racing and she's definitely got some of her talent.
"You couldn't ask for a better pedigree and as she goes further she'll get better."
Aidan O'Brien, who struck 12 months ago in the Chesham with subsequent dual 2000 Guineas winner Churchill, said: "You'd be delighted with her. She's out of Peeping Fawn by Deep Impact, so she's bred absolutely in the purple.
"She has a massive engine. She's a great traveller and quickens really well. She was very impressive in Leopardstown and what's unusual about her is she's not a very big filly, but she thinks she's big - she has a big personality.
"Like those real good ones, she has a big presence about her. She could be anything really. I think she was the first two-year-old that we had that won first time out this year. It's very exciting."
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Minding & Rhododendron News Update
Aidan O'Brien had news of last season's superstar filly Minding, who was forced to miss Ascot having suffered a setback before an intended run in the Tattersalls Gold Cup.
"She's good. She's back on long reins on Monday for three weeks and then hopefully she'll be ready to ride again, and then it will probably take a couple of months after that [before she runs again]."
Rhododendron's okay, a little bit quiet in herself. We'll go gentle and wait for her for a couple of weeks."
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Winter leads home Ballydoyle 1 2 3 in Coronation Stakes
Winter led home an Aidan O'Brien-trained one-two-three with victory in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Winter led home an Aidan O'Brien-trained one-two-three with victory in Friday's Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Formerly trained by the now-retired David Wachman, the grey daughter of Galileo has taken her form to new levels since switching to O'Brien's all-conquering yard and has developed into the dominant force in the three-year-old fillies division over a mile.
She was sent off the odds-on favourite after easy wins the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Irish version at the Curragh, and she proved different class with a two and a quarter lengths success.
The icing on the cake for O'Brien, who was completing a Group One double on the day following Caravaggio's Commonwealth Cup victory earlier in the day, was that Winter's stable companions Roly Poly and Hydrangea followed her home in second and third.
Ryan Moore said: "She was only doing what she had to do. She travelled beautifully through the race and was very professional, but she was just doing what she had to I think.
"It's a hard thing to do to win two Guineas and then come here, but she's with a trainer who can do magic things. It's very hard to do what she's done, but she's good. She's beaten some good fillies from France and America and this is a strong piece of form."
Aidan O'Brien said: "She's a filly who is thriving from race-to-race, she travelled well, Ryan had her in a lovely position and she's won very well.
"She gets the trip very well, she's very classy and is a great traveller. When you ask her she gallops out strong. Physically she's thriving, David (Wachman, former trainer) always thought the world of her last year and now she's thriving race-to-race."
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Caravaggio all Class in Commonwealth
Caravaggio came out on top in a thrilling battle for the Commonwealth Cup on day four at Royal Ascot.
Caravaggio came out on top in a thrilling three-way battle for the Group One Commonwealth Cup.
The odds-on favourite, unbeaten in his first five starts for trainer Aidan O'Brien, reared significantly a second or two before the stalls opened and his restlessness may have resulted in him ending up racing a little further back in the 12-runner field than jockey Ryan Moore may have ideally preferred.
Caravaggio's stablemate Intelligence Cross took them along but he was soon brushed aside as second-favourite Harry Angel cruised to the front, tracked closely by fellow Godolphin representative Blue Point.
The pair moved on with a couple of furlongs to travel and Moore got to work on Caravaggio, who picked up stylishly to close the gap on the leaders and then forge ahead towards the far rail in the closing stages.
Harry Angel battled bravely to hold on to second under Adam Kirby, in doing so reversing recent Ascot form with the William Buick-ridden Blue Point, but the classy grey Caravaggio was well on top at the line and passed the post three quarters of a length in front.
The big trio pulled nicely clear of American challenger Bound For Nowhere.
Aidan O'Brien: "He's obviously a brilliant horse. It was only his second run back and we've been afraid to do too much because we didn't want to lose that brilliance that he has. Ryan gave him a brilliant ride and his change of pace is unbelievable.
"Ryan was very confident in him, he said he was just going to pop him out and let it happen and that's exactly what he did, he said he'd come there very late and that's exactly what he did.
"He's very quick - I don't think we've ever had a quicker horse. It was a big step up from his first run at Naas. We knew it was against three-year-olds today but it will be older horses next time.
"I'd imagine the July Cup is what the lads would be thinking of."
When asked if he could drop back to five furlongs at some stage, O'Brien quipped: "He could drop down to three!"
Ryan Moore: "I think that was a proper race, he's beaten two very good horses there. There's quite a head wind and it's hard to make up ground in it today and yesterday. They made him work but he was going away at the end. They were very good horses in front of me and they weren't stopping.
"I think that was a very good performance as he's beaten two very good horses. He's a good colt. I ride Limato on Saturday so we'll see how he matches up to the older ones, but that was a very good race."
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A.P.O'Brien 57 Royal Ascot Victories
A.P.O'Brien Top Earning Horses In Training Updated
Royal Ascot Race Wins Updated
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Order of St George 2nd in the Ascot Gold Cup - What a race he was beat by a nostril George was so brave
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Orderofthegarter 2nd Taj Mahal 4th in the Hampton Court Stakes Group 3
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