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Just imagine if every trainer went through that crap.
Anyone would think he’s always accepting an Oscar.
I have to turn away now, it’s so embarrassing.If I was on his team and was thanked by AOB, I’d think so f……. what! You’ve thanked the whole population of Ireland anyway. It means absolutely nothing. Used to be endearing but is now just a nervous tick.
Value Is EverythingTotally agree with Yeats. I really don’t understand the criticism of running Ambiente Friendly. He was the 6/4 fav ffs. He stayed the 1m4f of Epsom well enough to beat everything bar City Of Troy… And had stayed it well in the Lingfield Derby Trial too. Maybe he could have gone for the King Ed first, but this year’s winner of that Group 2 Calandagan is a better horse than Ambiente Friendly anyway. I say again, he was the 6/4 fav of a Classic. It was the obvious race for him.
Value Is EverythingAF stayed 12F but was clearly outstayed in both races but stop both races at the 2F pole and he was still on the bridle but had they ridden LA a bit more patiently at Epsom then I would argue that he would have likely finished 2nd instead of 3rd.
At Lingfield AF beat Illinois/Meydaan (the 1st and 4th in the Queens Vase over 14F) and The Euphrates (a little bit further than he did at the Curragh but less than what Calandagan beat him at Ascot) but maybe that was just a case of AF outclassing slower/staying type rivals over a distance that was not his ideal?
I don’t see a scenario where he beats either Derby winner were they to meet again over 12F and if you look at AF’s pedigree (his dam a onced raced winner at 10F from a family that operated at 8-10F) by a 2000g winner in Gleneagles, 10F is probably going to end up being his optimum trip.
Hindsight is a great thing for sure but I do think most of us had a feeling that the race was going to be set up as a proper test of stamina (time was fast by 4.85s) to suit the stouter stayer and likely more patiently ridden LA as opposed to the horse (AF) with the better turn of foot.
Ginge – Btw, I do agree that Calandagan (also by Gleneagles but from a stouter staying 14F female line) is a better horse and I hope at somepoint he might cross swords with COT as that could be interesting to say the least.
If I had to pick a horse coming out of the Irish Derby, I think Matsuri might be the one to follow as he went from a 10F Class 4 EBF Novice Stakes win (giving 6-14lbs to his rivals) to almost snatching 3rd in a Derby – had Oisin (on Sunway) not cleverly kept him boxed in for most of the straight, he might well have gone close to winning instead of finishing 4th. That being said, he interestingly only currently has entries at 10F for the Juddmonte and Irish Champion Stakes.
“I really don’t understand the criticism of running Ambiente Friendly.”
It is not really criticism. I can understand why connections had a go. But in my defence, I did say on the Derby thread that I would like to see AF dropped to 10 furlongs, so I am not after-timing! Based on how he ran (and on an analysis of his pedigree, as described by LD above), 10 furlongs looks like the distance to try.
His effort clearly flattened out close to home and he was beaten by a stronger stayer. It could be argued the same scenario happened at Epsom, although personally I believe that City Of Troy outclassed him as much as outstayed him.
The issue I have is not what AF should do now; that is imo fairly obvious. It is with people who say he should never have run in the Irish Derby.
Before the race I made some points myself about why Ambiente Friendly MAY not stay the trip as well as he did at Epsom. But the fact is AF still had a great chance of winning a Classic. At Epsom he was good enough at 12f to beat the horse that won the Irish Derby over 12f.
If Ambiente Friendly had NOT run and the horse he beat at Epsom – Los Angeles – won the Irish Derby… I suspect there’d have been many who would’ve said AF should’ve run.
Value Is Everything“O’Brien had no intention of fielding four runners but did so to make the numbers up to eight.”
100% that he added the runners to make up the dead 8. The World Pool also had a lot to do with it, as if there was 7 or less runners then the track I think only gets 2/3 of the pot that would be paid to them. It was only going to be GS and LA running before nonone else declared.
“Just imagine if every trainer went through that crap.
Anyone would think he’s always accepting an Oscar.
I have to turn away now, it’s so embarrassing.If I was on his team and was thanked by AOB, I’d think so f……. what! You’ve thanked the whole population of Ireland anyway. It means absolutely nothing. Used to be endearing but is now just a nervous tick.”
The man is under an unbelievable amount of stress, the last few years with the change in ownership structure and the Stallions, but especially this year where things have not gone right until the Derby/Royal Ascot. He is a very humble man so what you say about you being on his team and hearing that, you are a million miles away in your thoughts about his team and what they think of him.
Am sure AOB is well liked, it’s just that thanking everyone means the actual act of “thanking” means nothing.
People should be thanked when they’ve done something particularly good.
…But instead, AOB has now made it so that people who he does NOT thank must feel they’ve done wrong.
…Which probably explains why he’s having to thank more and more and more people.Value Is EverythingAll he has to do is say “thank you to all the team at home”. He does not have to name every individual. It does not mean anything to the general viewer.
He has actually got worse. I always liked his interviews but the post race ones are becoming painful.
The more I know the less I understand.
To be frank his interviews have turned into the boy who cried wolf….if it isn’t describing how horse ‘x’ (aka the next good horse in line) is unlike anything they have had before at Ballydoyle its thanking everyone bar the Academy and the milkman for making horse ‘x’ what he is.
It has turned into white noise for me as you can pretty much state what he is going to say before he has even said it. As CAS said, all it needs is a mention that the team at home all contribute to the horse’s winning run and leave it there.
I think he is like he is due to racing being his life 24/7. Maybe be easier if coolmore had a manager who did most of the interviews. Aidan is the main man in a huge operation and all the pressures that come with it. He look just relieved after the derby and his mind had to be mashed. Most guys talk nonsense after a pressurised situation.I know his interviews have become tiresome but the way the staff talk about the horses like rachel on a rodin,shows how much they love it and aidan appreciates all the likes of Dean Gallagher does.
For many if not most trainers racing is their life. They don’t go on on and on.
It may well be like a nervous tick now – which journalists play along with.
But now it’s like they’re laughing at him.Value Is EverythingGive him his due at least he knows their names.
The more I know the less I understand.
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