Aidan O'Brien is celebrating a brilliant 1-2-3 while Dermot Weld scored his first win at the Breeders' Cup tonight in an incredible night for Irish Horse racing.
The Irish trainers were celebrating as Order Of Australia first came home for O'Brien before Tarnawa stormed to victory for Weld.
O'Brien broke his duck in the Breeders’ Cup Mile - and in style - as Order Of Australia sprang a shock to lead home a Ballydoyle 1-2-3 at Keeneland tonight.
The 73-1 outsider got his chance only when One Master was scratched from the Grade 1 test on Thursday.
But he seized the opportunity to fend off stablemates Circus Maximus and Lope Y Fernandez and give Pierre-Charles Boudot - who got the call to ride after Christophe Soumillon tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday - a double at the self-titled ‘World Championships’ of horseracing.
“Aidan told me before the race that he was a special horse for the Mile and he was very confident,” said Boudot.
Meanwhile, Weld and Colin Keane teamed up to great effect as Tarnawa stormed to victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf soon after.
Crowned champion jockey once again in Ireland, Keane was replacing the luckless Christophe Soumillon, who also missed a winning ride on Order Of Australia in the Breeders' Cup Mile. It was his first ride for veteran trainer Weld, who was also enjoying his first Breeders' Cup success.
Tarnawa could have gone for the Filly & Mare Turf, but connections chose this stiffer task for the in-form three-year-old, who had won the Prix Vermeille and Prix de l'Opera on her last two starts for her owner the Aga Khan.
Keane had her at the back of the field as Channel Maker and United set the pace, with Aidan O'Brien's Magical in a handy position not far off the lead.
Channel Maker set sail for home at the top of the straight, but the pack closed in a furlong out with Keane producing Tarnawa with a perfectly-timed run that saw her keep Magical at bay by a length. Channel Maker was another length away in third.
Weld's son, Mark, said: "It doesn't get any bigger than this. These overseas prestige races in the autumn are what we train them for and I'm sad my dad is not here, but the Covid situation put paid to that.
"It was Colin's first ride for us and there were no instructions. We left it completely up to him and as soon as I saw Colin pull her out, it was a like a jet seeing a runway and off she went.
"My father has been a long-standing supporter of American racing ever since Go And Go won the Belmont back in 1990. He worked in the United States as a boy and it's very special to him."
