“Courage” was the word in vogue here after Gleneagles battled to victory in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, less stylishly but perhaps more impressively than when he took the Newmarket equivalent three weeks ago. He becomes the eighth colt to complete the double and, remarkably, is the 10th winner of this race trained by Aidan O’Brien, who at the age of 45 now has 33 Irish Classics to his name.
In victory it appears Gleneagles has earned the right to continue his career as a miler and discussion of him being directed towards the Derby now appears at an end, though that particular zombie has taken a lot of slaying. Coolmore, his owners, have still to produce an entirely convincing prospect for the Epsom Classic but they are not so desperate as to try stretching out this one’s stamina in a fortnight’s time.
This must count as one of the least surprising among O’Brien’s big-race haul, since Gleneagles was sent off at odds of 2-5, with many feeling he might not even have to be as good as he was in England in order to score. But an early and unexpected danger emerged in the tactics adopted by Ivawood, the second-favourite and arguably an unlucky third at Newmarket, where he was drawn on the slower side of the track.
“Iva plan to foil the favourite,” was the headline for Saturday’s Racing Post column written by Ivawood’s jockey, Richard Hughes, who did not reveal the details of that plan. It turned out to be making the running; Ivawood was granted an uncontested lead and pressed on with two furlongs to go, at which point it was not clear that Gleneagles and his rider, Ryan Moore, would be able to find a route among the horses in front of them.
The colt showed dour qualities in grinding his way past Ivawood and resisting the late lunge of Endless Drama, who relegated the pace-setter to third. Endless Drama, a size bigger than the winner, was rolling towards Gleneagles in the closing stages and many another horse might have produced a weak finishing effort in such circumstances.
“What he showed me today that I didn’t see before, he’s very brave,” O’Brien said.
“As well as being a fast horse, he had to fight today and he fought for three furlongs. And then in the last half-furlong, Ryan had to say, ‘Come on, I need you again,’ and he did give it.”
O’Brien was entertaining as he described his meeting with the powerful men who run Coolmore to discuss which of their horses should be left in the Derby at this week’s entry stage. The trainer, who has had a number of disappointments in recent trials for that Classic, said: “I was crossing them all off and I had a line through him [Gleneagles] but the lads said no, leave him in.”
They appear to have been swayed, to some extent, by the views of Lester Piggott, who used to ride for the yard and whose judgment remains influential. But John Magnier, the Coolmore head, suggested here that he expected to see Gleneagles next in the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot in mid-June.
That decision will find favour with both O’Brien, who “always thought he was a miler”, and Moore, who said: “For me, he has plenty of pace.” Meanwhile, Ivawood’s trainer, Richard Hannon, said the colt would also go to Royal Ascot, either for another clash with Gleneagles or for the shorter Jersey Stakes.
Ascot clues seemed in plentiful supply. Dermot Weld’s Mustajeeb, last year’s Jersey winner, has been converted into a sprinter and, after scoring over six furlongs here, will be aimed at the Diamond Jubilee. A still more exciting prospect is Round Two, the latest star juvenile to emerge from Jim Bolger’s yard, who won a five-furlong race here and is now favourite for Ascot’s Coventry Stakes.
Bolger says this is the fastest horse he has had since Polonia, winner of the Prix de l’Abbaye in 1987. “He’s everything that you’d like in a racehorse. I’ve never had a horse that was as straightforward as he is and the trip doesn’t seem to matter. Doesn’t matter where you put him in a race, doesn’t matter how you train him, nothing matters. And I think he’ll go on any ground.”
