Aidan O'Brien has won the Irish Derby a record 11 times and the Epsom Derby on five occasions, all of which makes the lack of a French Derby on his CV all the more glaring, something the champion trainer hopes to fix with three runners in tomorrow's €1.5 million Chantilly classic.
O'Brien has already thrown something of a curveball ahead of the Prix Du Jockey Club with his son Joseph set to ride the highly-touted Highland Reel, leaving Ryan Moore on board Cape Clear Island while Colm O'Donoghue teams up with War Envoy.
Moore had a first spin on Highland Reel in the French 2,000 at Longchamp earlier this month, when the Galileo colt started a hot favourite but managed only sixth to Make Believe, with War Envoy a place behind him.
On the same day Cape Clear Island was runner-up to Ampere in the Group 2 Prix Hocquart over 11 furlongs, but he is the colt Moore relies on to follow up his 2014 Jockey Club success on The Grey Gatsby.
Kiss of death
All three Ballydoyle hopes have been put together in stalls seven, eight and nine, a draw that could have been worse in a race where a high draw can often prove something of a kiss of death.
Significantly what appear to be the two principal home hopes, Karaktar and New Bay, are in stalls 12 and 13 of the 14-strong field.
O’Brien has been pursuing the elusive prize since 1998 in the early days of his Ballydoyle reign. Saratoga Springs finished fourth to Dream Well on that occasion and in the intervening period, O’Brien has been regularly represented in the Jockey Club. However Westphalia’s third to Le Havre in 2009 remains the closest O’Brien has got.
Tomorrow will be the first time he’s had a runner in France’s premier classic since Imperial Monarch was eighth in 2012, but the raiding party face a huge task in a race that, during a short period in the mid-1980s, was a happy hunting ground for Irish hopes.
Distance cut
Plenty has changed since then, including the distance being cut from a mile and a half in 2005, but the nearest an Irish-trained horse has come to winning since was when Dermot Weld’s Famous Name got beaten a head by Vision D’Etat in 2008.
Weld remains convinced a bad draw compromised Famous Name’s chance and it could prove important tomorrow with impressive Prix Noailles winner Karaktar and the Poulains-runner up New Bay parked out wide.
However, 14 runners is not a large field and it could be cut if unbeaten Sumbal is taken out and rerouted to next weekend’s Epsom Derby. Connections plan to check if the going is too quick for the Greffule winner tomorrow morning.
The Aga Khan has won the Jockey Club on six occasions and has a leading hope again in Karaktar who easily beat one of tomorrow’s opponents, High Dynamite, at Longchamp a month ago and will have the assistance of France’s top jockey Christophe Soumillon.
