St Leger reaction: David Ord on the win of Continuous

There’s no doubting autumn was in the air on Saturday.

Grey skies in Yorkshire, Strictly returning to the television screens and the Premier League back in full swing.

It’s a far cry from the late spring when it’s all in front of you: Epsom, Royal Ascot, Goodwood and Doncaster.

We knew back then this was Frankie Dettori’s final ride on the merry-go-round – and we also knew Aidan O’Brien was scrambling around to find a decent middle-distance three-year-old colt.

Ironically Continuous, his impressive Betfred St Leger hero, was his final throw of the dice for the Derby.

He’d run four in the artist formerly known as the Derrinstown Stud Trial at Leopardstown and Proud And Regal’s third place was the best they could muster.

Adelaide River got a distant rear-view of Arrest in the Chester Vase, the ill-fated San Antonio won a Dee Stakes that caused barely a ripple in the antepost markets.

There wasn’t a Ballydoyle runner in the Lingfield trial switched to the Polytrack because of torrential rain so when Continuous turned up at York for the Dante, well the Derby door was wide open.

He poked his head in to have a look around out of curiosity but in dead-heating for third behind The Foxes booked a trip to Chantilly instead of Surrey.

So Aidan was all in on Auguste Rodin at Epsom. A colt who had set the tone for much of what followed that spring when treading water in the Newmarket mud in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and returning to base camp that evening with the Triple Crown dream in tatters.

The rebuild to transform that leg-weary colt to a Derby winner in the space of four weeks is probably only rivalled by a carbon copy resurrection from the King George to Irish Champion in the pantheon of O’Brien’s training achievements.

The development of Continuous from a Dante third and French Derby eighth to Leger winner and third favourite for the Arc in three months. Well that’s more typical of the man’s genius.

It began with a solid second in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot. He was nicely clear of the third that day but King Of Steel and Kevin Stott had a gear too many on their own day in the sun. The second was lacking the speed needed to make an impact on the bigger stage.

But from there all roads led to York and the Sky Bet Voltigeur and the first signs that the engine was beginning to purr. There were those who said he just picked up the pieces as the leaders set fractions the Nunthorpe winner would have been – well if not proud of at least mildly satisfied with – but there was something in the way he came clear that suggested there was a touch of Milan about him.

Remember that colt? Yes, the National Hunt sire. But on the track, in the autumn of his three-year-old campaign, he was electric. He too failed to trouble the judge in the French Derby and finished only fourth in the King Edward VII but won the Voltigeur and Leger before traffic problems in the Arc and Breeders’ Cup Turf where he flew home but found the post coming a few strides too soon behind Fantastic Light.

And that’s the thing with O’Brien. It’s not always the obvious ones that leap forward in the autumn. It’s often the Continuous’s of the world, horses who seemingly have had their limitations exposed only to suddenly gather momentum and confidence. You never know where it’s going to carry them.

His Classic crop of 2023 were maligned through the spring but as the leaves prepare to tumble from the trees, that crop is flourishing. Auguste Rodin heads to Santa Anita for a fast-ground Breeders’ Cup. Paddington, the torchbearer through the summer months, is being readied for QIPCO British Champions Day.

Continuous strengthens a Ballydoyle Arc hand that was beginning to look a little weak. There’ll be an armada or should that be squadron, heading over to California for the Breeders’ Cup along with the Derby winner, too.

Looking to the future he has the favourites for the Middle Park, Dewhurst. But all of a sudden those two-year-olds have a little work on their hooves to match the achievements of their near neighbours.

And when Continuous came back into the unsaddling area at York in May for the debrief that awaits all the connections of the vanquished in the trials, the bar didn’t look like being set quite as high as it is now in September.

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