Ireland to France to the UK: Where will Aidan O'Brien's juggernaut go next? For racing fans, this is one of the most important times of the year, especially when you have a view of the Flat season and why it is so exciting from an Irish perspective. Trainer Aidan O'Brien has enjoyed a sensational start to the season, having already won two Classics. He will have runners in: - The Dante at York on Thursday - The Lockinge at Newbury on Saturday - Irish Guineas weekend on May 23rd and 24th - French Derby on May 31st - English Derby meeting on June 5th and 6th - French Oaks on June 14th - Royal Ascot from June 16th to 20th - Irish Derby meeting from June 26th to 28th - Irish Oaks on July 18th and 19th Classic trials roll on We have all the trials for these big meetings, and the Curragh will begin to see the Guineas weekend before the Derby and Oaks, and then we have the madness of Royal Ascot. Looking at this week in front of us, after a fantastic week for the O’Brien team where Aidan won all the Group and Listed races and his son Joseph O’Brien trained the winner of the Chester Cup with A Piece Of Heaven, we now have the York Dante meeting, which again will allow horses to book their place for Royal Ascot, along with booking their ticket to Epsom for the Oaks and the Derby. Looking at the Musidora, we see Aidan O’Brien send over Moments Of Joy, but she looks to be up against it, facing the daunting task of taking on the impressive Ed Walker-trained Felicitas and John Gosden’s Legacy Link, which will be ridden by former Irish champion jockey and Juddmonte retained rider Colin Keane. The Dante takes place on Thursday, and this is one of the most important Derby trials seen in the calendar. Aidan O’Brien sends over Ballysax Stakes winner Christmas Day and Futurity Stakes second Action, who will look to bounce back after his disappointment in the Classic Trial at Sandown. Attention turns to the Curragh Attention swiftly turns towards the Irish 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh Racecourse, and it looks like in the Irish 2,000 Guineas we are going to see Gstaad look to make amends for his second in the English 2,000 Guineas. The following day, in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, it looks like Aidan O’Brien may put his two English 1,000 Guineas challengers, Precise and True Love, into a rematch again, so that looks very exciting. That weekend we also have the Tattersalls Gold Cup, which could see a clash between Minnie Hauk and Ombudsman, which would be a thrill for racing fans attending the Curragh. From the Curragh to France Last weekend there was an Aidan O’Brien press day where he spoke through his Classic candidates, and the vibe was that recent Dee Stakes winner Constitution River looks likely to head to the French Derby, where he will be joined by stablemate Hawk Mountain, who won last year’s Group 1 Futurity Stakes and made an impressive reappearance when winning at Longchamp only a couple of weeks ago. So it looks like it will be those two for the French Derby. For the French Oaks, the Prix de Diane, it looks like impressive French 1,000 Guineas winner Diamond Necklace will head over for the race. After this then, we go straight to the Epsom Derby and Oaks, and the Oaks field is starting to look a little less quality each day. We see that recent Cheshire Oaks winner Amelia Earhart has been backed into 9-4 favouritism for the Oaks. She was a good winner at Chester and looks to have all the attributes needed to go to Epsom with a favourite’s chance. The big guns for Epsom The day after then is the Epsom Derby, one of the most famous races in the entire world, and Aidan looks to have a few contenders in Benvenuto Cellini and Pierre Bonard, and there will be another one or two to fill the field depending on the results this week or in the next week or two. It was also interesting to hear Aidan say that if Constitution River did go to the Epsom Derby, there is a chance that Ryan Moore would ride him over current favourite Benvenuto Cellini, which would definitely shake up the market. Stars on show at the Royal meeting Mid-June then gives us Royal Ascot, the biggest week of racing in the Flat season. We have style, class, and the horses to match it, a wonderful week filled with jockeys and trainers aiming to put their name into a prestigious category of past winners. The Prince of Wales’s Stakes, the Commonwealth Cup, the Queen Mary, the Coventry, the Coronation, and the St James’s Palace are just a few names of historic races that come around, and we often see the top Irish trainers in both codes send their horses, including Willie Mullins, who has enjoyed plenty of success there in the last few years. An 18th win in the Irish Derby? Once the dust settles, it is back to the Curragh Racecourse then for the Irish Derby and the Irish Oaks, which have provided some shock victories in the past, with the likes of Sovereign in 2019 as he took pacemaker duties to another level when steering clear of Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck. As a racing fan, and in particular a Flat racing fan, these are without doubt the most interesting times of the year. All of the recipes and plans are made, the ingredients and potions are going into the pot, and now we just have to wait and see what appears.
