O’Brien: ‘Albert Einstein Will Go To The Guineas Without Having Come Off The Bridle At Home’

[Wandering Eyes]

Aidan O'Brien heaped praise on Albert Einstein at a Ballydoyle press morning on Monday and described the unbeaten Wootton Bassett colt as his number one hope heading into the new season.

Albert Einstein is a general 7-1 favourite for the 2,000 Guineas. He also holds a Derby entry, for which he is a best-priced 20-1 shot. 

However, O'Brien acknowledged that Albert Einstein, who has recorded both of his wins over six furlongs, is not certain to stay a mile. 

O'Brien said, “The number one at the moment is Albert – he's done very well physically. He's big and powerful and very rapid. We won't know if he's going to get the mile until we do it. The stride people, the heart people, the pedigree people, everyone says that he will get a mile, but he's a very quick thinker.”

The master of Ballydoyle added, “He's rapid to do anything. He's quick to leave the stalls and very quick into his stride. We're not going to know and we're not going to search to find out [if he'll stay a mile or not] because we don't want to wake him up too much. We're going to train him asleep and see what's going to happen.”

Albert Einstein is part of a trio of Ballydoyle-trained colts who have Classic targets this spring. 

O'Brien continued, “The other horse is Puerto Rico and the other horse after that is Gstaad, and we all know what he's done. At the moment, the three of them are being trained for the Guineas. I'd imagine one of them will go to France and then hopefully come back to the Curragh.

“With the way the ground is at the moment, I'd imagine they'd all go straight there. Listening to the lads, I think two will go to Newmarket and one will go to France and then the Curragh – I think that's what they're thinking.

“Albert is the main horse. When we started working him in the spring of his two-year-old career, we thought all the two-year-olds were no good and we thought he was the only horse we had.

“He was that much above everything else, it was unusual. He had his two runs and won his maiden very easily, it was a six-furlong race and he was keen enough, he was rapid through the race and the second (Power Blue) won a Group 1 after. Then he had the mishap, he doesn't look big but he's powerful, he's wide and strong.”

O'Brien added, “He picked up a little fracture at the Curragh. He was so far ahead of the other two-year-olds at the start it wasn't funny. He's unbelievably quick. Everyone is telling us he'll stay, but it's whether he can get down and relax. We're training him without looking at him, he'll go to the Guineas without having come off the bridle.”

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