Leopardstown Saturday report: Diego Velazquez books trip to Doncaster

By David Ord

14:44 · SAT September 09, 2023

Aidan O’Brien is going to stick to a tried and tested formula with Diego Velazquez after he wore down stablemate Capulet to win the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown.

The Ballydoyle pair had a stranglehold on the Group Two contest throughout and it was only inside the final furlong that the 8/15 favourite wore down his rival to win by half-a-length.

A 2,400,000 guineas son of Frankel, Diego Velazquez was following up a debut win at the Curragh and is 7/1 for the Betfred Derby and 10/1 the QIPCO 2000 Guineas with Betfair, Paddy Power and Sky Bet.

“I’m very happy. We like the second horse a lot and we knew we needed something to take him and stretch him a little bit. They didn’t go very fast the first half and turned it on from halfway so he learned a lot,” the winning trainer said.

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“Ryan was delighted. He said he had to catch hold of him and make him learn. He’s still a baby. We were surprised with how babyish he was the first day, he never took hold of the bridle and that surprised us.

“Today he was green but a lot better and we think this race will leave him in a very good place.

“I’d imagine it will be the old Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster now. That’s what we always thought. We did it with Auguste Rodin last year but knew this fellow needed to learn a lot more today than that horse did coming here last season. He was extra green at the Curragh and unless he was going to learn an awful lot today it was going to be hard to pitch him in a very good race next time but we think he did.”

“Capulet is a good horse. He’s out of a good Galileo mare. He’s a typical Justify in as soon as they go beyond seven furlongs they seem to grow another leg. They’re middle-distance horses and you’d have to be very happy with him.”

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