Auguste Rodin wins Royal Bahrain Irish Champions Stakes

Auguste Rodin, a dual Derby winner and, as of Saturday afternoon at Leopardstown, a Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes winner, continues to struggle to capture imagination. It’s an unusual distinction but he is clearly an exceptional talent, trumped only by a trainer, Aidan O’Brien, who serves up brilliance with such distinction and regularity that we seldom pause to appreciate the greatness in our presence.

Racing fans and, in particular, punters like consistency and certainty, and when that is allied to remarkable ability, there are the ingredients for a star to light up any season. For all that Saturday’s success was his fourth Group 1 victory in just nine outings, Auguste Rodin has struggled in that department.

He may forever carry around the burden of his heavy defeat in the Newmarket Guineas and that dismal display in the King George, but O’Brien has never lost faith.

This race was an honest one, run at a strong gallop which offered no hiding place, and he came out on top under a beautifully judged ride by Ryan Moore. There was something more convincing about this display as he accounted for stablemate and last year’s winner Luxembourg, with the classy Nashwa running a superb race in third place.

“He’s a great horse, that’s the bottom line,” said O’Brien. “Ryan gave him an incredible ride. He was always a brilliant horse, all the way along from the first day he worked. He travels like a dream, he has an awful lot of natural speed, but he’s a little bit lazy when he gets there.

“A couple of times this year, all just went totally wrong. Ryan was so confident in Ascot (in the King George) but before it went completely wrong, he took him out of the race so there was no mental or physical damage to him, and that’s why he came out of the race so well.

“He’s a very brilliant horse, very tough, very hardy, but he’s a little bit peculiar. Anne Marie was watching him in the stable and if a thing is happening around him, in his environment, he stays awake all night. He’s a very sensitive horse, he takes in everything.” 

Passing on the credit, as he does, O’Brien added: “The lads never panic in any way. Everyone knows what he’s worth and how important he is to the breed, and it was very easy to say ‘that’s the end’ but they never did.

“The lads love the Breeders’ Cup and there’s a good chance he will go there.” 

Take it as read: the Dermot Weld-trained Tahiyra is the season’s best three-year-old filly over a mile. Pitted in against older fillies in in the Group 1 Coolmore America Justify Matron Stakes and with a make-up fraught with danger, the Irish 1000 Guineas winner and her regular rider, Chris Hayes, cut an impressive sight as they moved out of the pocket on the turn for home, coasted forward to mount a challenge to Just Beautiful, and then quickened away to beat the running-on Rogue Millennium.

While the Aga Khan filly appeared to think she had done enough when hitting the front, there was an unmistakable swagger to this performance, her most complete to date, and her rider could not help but let his emotion show with a wild punch to the air.

“I’ve been calming myself down with my celebrations, but I couldn’t contain it any longer,” said Hayes. “When I was younger, I was a bit wilder, but it’s just a release.

“She’s a very special filly. She doesn’t excite you at home, and maybe there’s that little bit of doubt when you’re going in, wondering if she is as well as you’d be hoping, but when she went down, I was back around her tail, and she was loving me giving her the little kick out of the stalls. She means the world to me, and I don’t know if you would find another one like her.

“What I loved today, and it was the first time I really saw it, was when she parked (in front) I did have loads left because when they came to me after the line as she pulled herself up, she took off to the mile and one start. A step up in trip isn’t going to be an issue anyway.

“She’s just having fun. She’s having some craic going down. At halfway, when I just had to edge out, she’s loving it. She thinks she’s 16.2hh as she bursts her way through for you. I hope she stays in training next year as I think she’ll be even better.” 

Dermot Weld, who won the race with Dress To Thrill in 2002 and with Emulous and in 2011, was similarly taken by the performance.

“No matter how many Group 1s you are fortunate in life to win, that will always go down as a special one for us because all the pressure was on this filly,” said the Rosewell House trainer.

“She’d won the Guineas, she won at Royal Ascot and some of the other fillies that she’d beaten have fallen by the wayside, but she keeps winning. She’s a very talented filly.”