‘Ryan Will Find It Hard Not to Ride Him’ – Delacroix Delighting O’Brien

[Wandering Eyes]

Delacroix remains Ryan Moore's likeliest mount in the Betfred Derby, according to Aidan O'Brien, who has also pencilled in The Lion In Winter and Lambourn as intended runners in the Epsom Classic on Saturday, June 7.

Moore's decision at next week's declaration stage promises to have a significant impact on the Derby betting, which currently sees The Lion In Winter as the 5/2 favourite with the sponsors, despite the son of Sea The Stars finishing only sixth on his return to action in the G2 Dante Stakes at York.

Lambourn, currently trading at 16/1 following his victory in the G3 Chester Vase, is another potential mount for Moore as he seeks a third consecutive win in the Derby. However, as things stand, O'Brien expects 7/2 shot Delacroix to be the one to benefit from the assistance of Ballydoyle's number one rider, having impressed when winning the G3 Derby Trial Stakes at Leopardstown last time.

“The three strongest horses at the moment for the Derby are Lambourn, the horse who won the Chester Vase, Delacroix, who won in Leopardstown, and the horse who ran in the Dante [The Lion In Winter]. They look the three strongest,” O'Brien said of his Epsom squad.

“I would imagine Ryan has the choice between them. The horse in the Dante has to come on and everything has to go right for him–and it has gone right so far.”

He continued, “Delacroix has done absolutely everything perfect so far. He has done everything right and his preparation has gone perfect.

“He's by Dubawi, but his sister by Galileo [Grateful] won over a mile and six [furlongs]. He's a total outcross, he's out of a superstar mare and he's by Dubawi, so he's a very exciting type of horse.

“They've another couple of weeks to go. I would imagine Ryan will find it hard not to ride him–but that doesn't mean he will ride him.”

O'Brien also holds a strong hand in the Betfred Oaks, with key trial winners Giselle, Minnie Hauk and Whirl all in the mix to represent the trainer at Epsom.

He added, “In the Oaks, the filly who won at Chester [Minnie Hauk], the filly who won the Lingfield trial [Giselle] and the filly who won the Musidora [Whirl] are the strongest ones.

“What will happen is that the lads will decide a week or 10 days before. I would imagine those six are on that route.”

 

O'Brien Keeping the Faith with Storm Boy

O'Brien also reacted to the defeat of Storm Boy when making his debut for the stable in Saturday's G2 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh.

A multiple Group winner when trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, the son of Justify finished last of the nine runners when sent off the 6/4 favourite for his first start on European soil, but his trainer expects to see a different horse when he makes his next appearance on a racecourse.

“He had never been galloped or worked, but we had to run him to find out what else we had to work on between now and Ascot,” said O'Brien. “We learned that we have a good bit to work on, but I was very happy to do that.

“He was beaten less than six lengths and he got a bad enough check at the two [furlong] marker. You could take another two off that, so he probably would have been beaten less than four lengths.

“That was a very respectable run. I know everyone was disappointed, but we think we'll take him home now and we're going to train him. We haven't really trained him yet and, hopefully, what we think will come, will come.”

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