For me, it has to be Auguste Rodin What has he beaten? On his debut he was beaten comfortably by Crypto Force on good ground. Since then, he has won on yielding, soft and heavy On his second run, he beat Shadowed (comfortably), who broke his maiden tag at the 4th attempt Next, he beat Caroline Street, who has run once since when 6/10 btn 3l by Basil Martini Final run last season, beat Epictetus 3½l in the Futurity on heavy ground. Looking at the other races on that day; it looks to be a good performance, but not outstanding After 4 runs I suspect there are some more likely prospects amongst the lightly/unraced 2yos The pedigree is a plus, by Deep Impact out of Rhododendron (Galileo) but there are plenty around with lovely pedigrees He obviously goes well on heavy ground, but will he be as effective on fast ground? I think, at best prices, 11/4 fav for the Derby, 12/1 bar is hard to comprehend and may say more about the anticipated opposition than it does about AR
You may very well be spot on Ron but hear me out on this one... He may well be... The best Aidan has ever trained
I am not sure that this is going to be a very informative thread (yet), as it seems there is quite a lot of agreement. I pretty much share your view, Ron, that Auguste Rodin has done nothing much but prove that he handles soft conditions better than the other juveniles that he faced. Given O’Brien’s record of winning those back-end prizes and then the same horses not following through as three year olds, he is definitely one that I will not be rushing to back. Back in the good old days (not that long ago) there would be something catching the pigeons on the gallops at Newmarket that was going to be Sir Michael Stoute’s next wonder horse – it would be single figures for the Guineas and the Derby and fail to show up for either. Oh for the good old days...
I agree mostly with what you say, Ron. His performances didn’t rank him an outstanding colt, and 11/4 is a ridiculous price anyway. Tahiyra is 3/1 for the 1000 Guineas, but she DID look an outstanding prospect when defeating Meditate as she liked . I hope I can get that on the day, and I’m amazed that Meditate is the same ante-post price! It just shows how stingy the bookies are - and how terrified they are of O’Brien.
Yes, and they are the same on the Arc. If Vadeni was 14/1 for the Arc before Equinox's performance why, after introducing Equinox at 8/1 (now 7/1), is Vadenii still 14/1? Surely his chance of winning must be reduced now? Because the chance of Equinox running in the Arc is not far off zero and the bookies are after some free money. Vadeni's real chances haven't changed at all
I don't think anyone disagreed with that one Bustino. Mother nature gave him the best possible chance today. He was hampered by his stable companion and, beaten 22l, one would think he may have got a knock. Will see what AOB has to say
Well he did come up with one excuse yesterday - the horses flew over on Friday instead of the morning of the race due to the Coronation
I knew this one would draw a few comments soon as they crossed the line in the Guineas. Auguste Rodin would have struggled to win a spelling plate. Is it this year’s Luxembourg – ante post Derby punters properly filleted. What will the King of Blarney come up with this time? For what it is worth I do not think this was anything more than an average Guineas and we already knew from Newbury that Chaldean has not grown physically but he always gives 100 per cent.
