Mother Earth will try to get her trainer Aidan O'Brien off the Group One mark for 2022 in Saturday's Al Shaqab Lockinge Stakes although she faces a major stumbling block in Baaeed. The Ballydoyle filly is one of just eight potential opponents to Baaeed after Monday's acceptance stage.
Immediate bookmaker reaction was to make Mother Earth a 4-1 second best to the English star, who is a general 4-9 favourite to stretch his unbeaten record to seven races. However, O’Brien landed the Lockinge with a filly in the 2018 winner Rhododendron and his runners have been in red-hot form over the last week.
It leaves him with a firm grip on the top of the Epsom Derby market including with Sunday's Leopardstown Trial winner Stone Age.
Mother Earth was the first of 18 top-level successes for O'Brien last year when successful in the 1,000 Guineas and will try to fill the same role in this Saturday's Newbury highlight. She has the advantage over Baaeed of a run already this season when landing the Park Express Stakes at the Curragh in March.
“We gave her a run at the Curragh to have her ready for the Lockinge. We are very happy with her. We think she has matured from last year. She had some very good runs and she was a bit unlucky a few times. Physically she has come forward since last year,” O’Brien said on Monday.
O'Brien's big-race attention will switch to France on Sunday where The Acropolis looks set to take his chance in the Poule D'Essai des Poulains, the French 2,000 Guineas. The regally bred filly Toy is also a likely starter in the French 1,000 Guineas on the same Longchamp programme.
“Toy is from a fantastic family. It looks like she will get the mile quite well and I think she could be even better over 10 furlongs. She might develop into a Diane filly after the French Guineas.
“We raced her over seven furlongs, and from a bad draw, purposefully at Cork, with a view towards the French Guineas, and I thought she did it well. It will be interesting to see how she gets on. I’m not sure if she’d get a mile and a half. I think she’ll get 10 furlongs,” O’Brien reported.
St Mark's Basilica a year ago was the last of five O'Brien-trained winners of the French colts Classic and The Acropolis is set to fly the Ballydoyle flag this time. Runner-up to Dr Zempf in a Leopardstown trial earlier this season, the son of Churchill is expected to progress from that outing.
“We thought the world of The Acropolis last year but I couldn’t get him to do anything. We were delighted by his return when he ran home well to finish second in the 2,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown. I don’t think we’ll over-race him this year – maybe we over-raced him a little last year –so it will be interesting to see what he does at the weekend.
“He’s a horse with plenty of speed, so he shouldn’t have any problem around Longchamp.”
Ireland's champion trainer suggested Ryan Moore will find it difficult to discard Stone Age at Epsom on the first Saturday in June. Changingoftheguard (Chester Vase), Star Of India (Dee Stakes) and United Nationsl (Lingfield Trial) were all successful in England last week and are prominent in the Derby betting too.
However O’Brien said: “I think he would find it hard to not ride the horse from yesterday. We know the way they will be ridden if they run. Changingoftheguard will go forward, the horse that won the 10-furlong race in Chester [Star Of India] will go forward but he is a little lazy. The Lingfield winner [United Nations] will go forward and seemed to stay well.
“Leopardstown is a big, open, galloping track. At Chester, the horses are turning – a different test. It would be hard not to be impressed with Stone Age. You’d like to have something to have led him. There was no point in messing him about. Ryan let him bowl along.”
Stone Age tightened his grip at the top of the Derby with some firms on Monday and was cut to a 5-2 favourite. O’Brien also has the current favourite for the Epsom Oaks in Tuesday and could have another Classic string to his bow if The Algarve impresses in Wednesday’s Musidora Stakes at York.
Tuesday was third to Cachet in the Newmarket 1,000 Guineas and is likely to take in the Irish Guineas en-route to Epsom.
“At the moment we’re looking at going to the Irish Guineas with her and then we’ll go to the Oaks, much like her sister [Minding] did. We’ve done it plenty with the fillies They’re fit and ready and conditioned so we’re happy for them to go there.
“Some years there’s not as much of a gap between the Guineas and Epsom but when there’s two weeks you have a chance of doing it if they’re after having a run or two before it,” he said.
