Aidan O’Brien Stars Shine Bright: 5 Horses to Follow After Weekend Races Last weekend provided some excellent racing, particularly on Saturday, and there were a number of winners who could be worth keeping an eye on going forward. We’ve picked out five such horses and they include an Aidan O’Brien horse who bounced back after flopping when favourite for the Derby last month. Novibet Betting Offer If you already have a Novibet account, check out more of the best betting sites and online casinos 1. Candleford William Haggas’ seven-year-old absolutely bolted up in a Royal Ascot handicap back in 2022 and that effort made him look like a Group horse. He became a Listed winner at Windsor in August 2023 and also scored at that level at the Curragh in May last year. Clearly he’s not the easiest to train and he was a disappointing last of 12 in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot on seasonal debut, so it was good to see him return to winning ways at Beverley on Saturday. Travelling well on the day, he took up the lead with two furlongs to go and scooted clear to win by three lengths. He should be winning more races this season on that evidence. 2. Plage De Havre This horse was an unlucky loser in a good race at York in May and it’s therefore no surprise that he came out on top at Haydock in the £150,000 Old Newton Cup. The handicapper had left his mark alone and Andrew Balding’s gelding made no mistake this time around. The four-length success suggests he had plenty in hand and you would imagine a substantial hike in the weights is coming. He might be capable of winning another handicap but perhaps a foray into Listed company could be on the agenda soon. 3. Blue Bolt Blue Bolt came into the Coral Distaff Stakes at Sandown with an unbeaten record to defend and the Juddmonte-owned filly made no mistake, stepping up to Listed level for the first time. Colin Keane immediately sent her to the front and the field couldn’t catch them. It remains to be seen how much higher she can go but having had just three starts so far, the daughter of Blue Point is entitled to progress again. 4. Daytona Aidan O’Brien has an exceptional crop of two-year-olds this season and they are winning races left, right and center. He won all three juvenile Group 2s at Royal Ascot last month and isn’t showing any signs of stopping. Daytona looked very green at a key stage of the race at Naas on Saturday, yet still managed to dominate the field. Improvement seems likely as the penny hasn’t dropped yet and he should be very competitive in Group races further down the line. 5. Delacroix Another one for Aidan O’Brien, he looked very smart when winning a couple of 1m2f Derby trials at Leopardstown earlier on in the season. That made him favourite for the Derby itself and unfortunately he failed to fire that day. It would have been hard to be confident about him taking on the likes of Ombudsman in the Coral-Eclipse off the back of that performance but the genius of Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore shone through once again. He came through late on to collar Ombudsman and the return to 1m2f was clearly a big help. The world is his oyster now and his sharp turn of foot suggests a drop back to a mile for the Sussex Stakes wouldn’t be a bad idea although the 1m2f Juddmonte is the obvious shout.
