The day Intricately spoiled the party for father Aidan O'Brien
By Mike Vince
08:56 · WED September 11, 2024
Mike Vince recalls a super-tight finish to the 2016 Moyglare, one of the Irish Champions Festivals flagship juvenile races to come this Sunday.
One of the special things about the Irish Champions Festival is the contrast between the two tracks - no straight at Leopardstown and, one dog-leg apart, a straight mile at the Curragh.
In the ten years of this Festival some of the most memorable races, especially with the Classics in mind, have been the two Group 1 juveniles at the Curragh, especially when there is a special story attached to the winner.
One race that instantly springs to mind is the 2016 Group 1 Moyglare Fillies Stakes.
There were seven runners, four trained by Aidan O’Brien who had saddled the great Minding to win the race the year before and end a succession of victories for the Brits.
The Ballydoyle quartet were headed by the Leopardstown Silver Flash winner Promise To Be True, sent off the evens favourite and with Ryan Moore up, but alongside her were proven Group 1 performers Rhododendron, ridden by Franke Dettori, and Hydrangea, who cut out the early pace.
The complete outsider of the field was Intricately, trained by Joseph O’Brien and ridden by his younger sibling Donnacha, who had only won a Gowran Park maiden.
Access to exclusive features all for FREE - No monthly subscription fee
Log in with your existing Sporting Life, Sky Bet, or Sky Games account. If you don't have any of those, it's completely FREE to register!
It turned out to be a red letter race for them. A furlong out it became clear Hydrangea was the most likely Ballydoyle winner when Padraig Beggy struck the front - and got the inside rail - but O’Brien got one last lunge from the outsider.
They flashed past the post in unison, even the pundits disagreed while judge Paul Murtagh deliberated, but it was the O’Brien brothers who got the verdict leaving Dad shaking his head in the runner-up spot.
It was Joseph's first Group 1 as a trainer and to have done it at the expense of his father brought many a smile. He could only watch as they celebrated, the punters scratched their heads and it was left to Aidan to provide, not for the first time, the line of the day.
"I am so thrilled for the pair of them" he said, "but what a rotten father I've been, I thought I had taught them to respect their elders!"
The pictures from that day are sure to be in the O’Brien family album, but you wonder whose.
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
