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I wasn’t really fond of the hype surrounding him but
Australia
lived up to all the expectations.
That was quite brilliant. I’m delighted for Ouija Board.Great shot again Cormack15.
You’d better keep that camera of yours close to your chest at Royal Ascot as I’ve got my eye on it……
Gaelic Warrior Gold Cup Winner 2026
Australia is led away – hope a few of you were on…I’m counting the cost of trying to find one to beat him
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz321/cormack15a/0f047fc2-ea46-4272-8bcf-445f5ccf7e71_zpsd95a5b44.jpg
Must admit I prefer to judge the quality of a race by what happens in the future rather than on the day.
Yes, there were some healthy margins but I suspect as ever those behind included plenty of non-stayers, horses who didn’t handle the track and of course Geoffrey Chaucer who probably deserves a category of his own.
The subsequent fall from grace of O’Brien’s previous superstar should act as a little warning that wide margins are not always a brilliant indicator of quality.
Kingston Hill, Romsdal and Arod might all go on to win at a decent level but so far this season they have won two maidens between them.
It will be interesting to see how they campaign Australia. I got the impression Joseph was nursing him all the way up the straight and a drop in trip wouldn’t be a big surprise. Given what happened with Camelot will they ever risk him on a soft surface? I doubt it.
On the subject of pedigrees clearly two Classic winning parents producing another Classic winner is a rare occurrence. 99.99% of horses ‘bred to win a classic’ don’t so picking out the odd one that does purely on pedigree analysis is not that far removed from donning a blindfold and hitting a bullseye.
He’s entered in races of 8-10f; that’s why I wasn’t sure that they were as confident as they made out about him getting 12f [even with his pedigree]. Can anyone explain to me why you would look at him and say he was special; he looks quite gangly to me [compared to, say Kingston Hill]. I’ve never worked out what to look for in a horse, conformation wise.[don’t know where I got the 8f race from..must be another senior moment
]Gord thank you for nice words i remember our chats over AUSTRALIA from page 31 in your different Approach thread never a doubt in my mind he win once in front.
Only had a quick look at entries for derby next year so far i like
JOHN F KENNEDY
HALL OF FAME.Bolger must have a Epsom derby winner soon not sure if AOB can win derby 4times on the spin.Geoffrey Chaucer aside, the Derrinstown horses ran more or less to where the form book would have had them in relation to one another. The Dante form panned out similarly with Arod again beating True Story, again suggesting the form has been upheld.
It is always a worry to see a big outsider in the mix and Red Galileo has turned the form around with Western Hymn who was a tenth of the price at 10/1 compared to when Gosden’s horse was a fairly cosy winner at Sandown. Orchestra, who was largely thought to have been value for more than his narrow winning margin over Romsdal in the Chester Vase, finished well behind that rival today and for me was disappointing in 12th, sandwiched between two 50/1 shots.
I’ll leave it a while to declare this a good Derby, as I feel there were a good few with stamina question marks this year.
Australia is 3/1 fav for the St Leger now, with Romsdal 5/1 and runner up Kingston Hill perhaps a surprising 10/1, considering he beat the Gosden horse today and has back end form at Donny. Western Hymn must have been one of the shortest lived St Leger favourites and he’s doubled his odds out to 12/1 now. I wouldn’t back him though because John Gosden is talking about going back to 10f with him.
A rare case where the horses who were 1 and 2 in the betting going into the winter, with Kingston Hill 5/1 and Australia 8/1, actually going on to finish 1-2 on the day. Fairly uninspiring trials and nothing coming over from France to throw a spanner in the works. You have to feel sorry for those poor bookies.
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
I thought it was a pretty high compliment Aidan paid Australia, when he said he did things he’d not see any two-year old do before (or word’s to that effect, I believe).
And I remembered Hawk Wing breaking the all-age track record for a particular sprint distance, as a two-year old, at the Curragh. Might still hold it.
It would seem to be a very high class renewal of the derby and no doubt the ratings will show it.Australia won far easier than the official margin and as aob said afterwards joseph looked after him.It was a fast time relative to the rest of the card which backs up the races quality.Australia had the race won 2 furlongs out and as joseph said he was cruising and probably would have been happier were the pace quicker.He looks like a 10f horse to me and the eclipse and the international and maybe the irish champion could be on the cards as i reckon adelaide may well go to the irish derby.Kingston hill stayed very well be thereabouts in all the top 12f races this year and looks an ideal type for the arc.Nice when the race actually lives up to its billing.
Over the moon for Ouija Board to have produced a Derby winner like Australia, very impressive performance.
Well done to all who backed him..sadly not myself backed the 2nd who ran a brilliant race but was never going to beat O’Brien’s superhorse.
Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...Yep; Sea the Stars and Ouija Board now superparents as well as being superstars. It’s been a good couple of days. And Urban Sea is looking down on both of them.
I thought it was a pretty high compliment Aidan paid Australia, when he said he did things he’d not see any two-year old do before (or word’s to that effect, I believe).
And I remembered Hawk Wing breaking the all-age track record for a particular sprint distance, as a two-year old, at the Curragh. Might still hold it.
Although Australia lived up to his trainer’s high opinion of him today, I cannot agree that the horse was doing things WE had never seen before. If there were special things going on with the horse at the age of two, they must have been happening on the gallops at home.
I recall his debut vividly, after having written a preview post about the horse, and the race, on this forum. Australia was very slowly out of the stalls that day and looked anything but precocious as he stayed on but could not justify his even money odds in second place. Sent off red hot favourite next time at 3/10 he made slightly hard work of a three parts of a length win, again not looking the horse who was supposed to be unlike anything that ever went through his trainer’s hands. On that evidence I decided not to back him for the Derby at 25/1 (Obviously a regret now)
It was not until Australia ran for the third time that he put up a potentially special performance in beating Free Eagle, who had looked smart himself on his first start. The Derby price had flown by then and once Australia passed the post 3rd in the Guineas I expected he would be odds on today.
People always scratch about to unearth each-way value when there is a hot pot and I think a few runners today went off way shorter than they should have been. After the Derrinstown Geoffrey Chaucer was 25/1 and after the Dante True Story was the same price. Without doing anything themselves they contracted in to skinny enough odds. Western Hymn was short enough as well after looking like Epsom was not going to suit him and this meant Australia went off a generous looking odds against in retrospect. To me he looked a better winner of the race than the much vaunted Camelot and I hope they don’t make the mistakes they did with that horse.
As a footnote, did anyone else seem to think that Keiren Fallon laid the blarney on with a trowel regarding True Story and his Derby chance? The talk was talked but the walk was certainly not walked. His opinion that Orchestra was the best of the O’Brien camp fell way short of the mark as well, with only the tailed off Geoffrey Chaucer more off-key on the day, as Heffernan couldn’t get a tune out of his mount
Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.
Although Australia lived up to his trainer’s high opinion of him today, I cannot agree that the horse was doing things WE had never seen before. If there were special things going on with the horse at the age of two, they must have been happening on the gallops at home.
Agreed Steve,we learned something today.Aiden O’Brien talks and he insists we listen,that patronising constant repetitive ‘Listen’ is beginning to irritate.As far as
Australia
goes,he’s nothing special,he certainly wasn’t impressive today and for me the horse to take from the race is
Kingston hill
,he’s improved more from the Guineas than the winner and granted soft ground today would have won.This fellow floats across the ground,he travelled with supreme ease and ran a blinder.If the ground comes up softer in Ireland the placings will be reversed in the Irish Derby.I fully expect the best horse ever to be trained by Aiden getting beat before the seasons end,even
Camelot
was more impressive winning his Derby than ‘Australia’.
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