Aidan O'Brien and John Gosden: A Battle of Wits in Racing By Connor WhitleyJohnny Ward has expressed his views on the friendly war of words between two champion trainers, describing John Gosden's recent comments as “crybaby stuff” after he decided not to run Ombudsman in the Irish Champions Stakes. Gosden appeared to make a dig at Aidan O’Brien’s use of pacemakers when explaining his decision, saying Ombudsman did not “appreciate running against multiple entries from one stable”. The Irish Champion Stakes looked set to be a third meeting between Ombudsman and O’Brien’s Delacroix. Delacroix was the winner in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown in July before Ombudsman came out on top in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York last month. The latter contest at the Ebor Festival sparked plenty of debate about the use of pacemakers after Birr Castle was deployed by Ballydoyle to set the pace for Delacroix. O’Brien claimed Gosden “whinges a little bit, but he’s a great trainer” in a friendly snipe at his rival. Verbal Sparring Good For Racing Speaking on irishracing.com’s Irish Angle show this week, the panel agreed the “fighting talk” between the pair was good for the sport. “It was entertaining stuff,” Emma Nagle said. “You like to see it because a lot of the time in racing media trainers and jockeys can bite their tongue a little bit and make it more PC, but it was nice to see fighting talk coming from the Gosden and Ballydoyle camp during the week. “I think Aidan's interview actually might have been recorded, as far as I know, before the Gosden comments came out. “It was interesting to see a bit of tit for tat. “It's a pity that Ombudsman’s not coming over. He would have been one of the ones you would be looking forward to seeing in that Irish Champion Stakes. “I think Delacroix is odds-on favorite for that now with Ombudsman not traveling over. “It's a massive weekend for Irish racing and there's been plenty of media around the Ballydoyle camp over the last week or so. “That little bit of tit for tat in the media helps build it up. “It’s something maybe you'd see in other sports but you wouldn't see it in racing too often. All a harmless bit of fun between the two of them but it was interesting and plenty of people got a kick out of it.” Gosden Should Have Risen To The Challenge “I thought it was brilliant,” added Irish Angle panelist and racing journalist Johnny Ward. “It does change the complexion if Aidan's interview was before the Gosden comments; that's quite different. “When the John Gosden comments came out I was texting my British racing friends and I was like, ‘Ah, come on. This is kind of crybaby stuff.’ “This is about racing. It's about the challenge of beating a horse you've already beaten. “I'm sorry but if you had 56 pacemakers in the race, you should find a way around it, if you're good enough. “When the remark was made, I was thinking, I wonder what Aidan O'Brien is thinking privately here. But it turns out Aidan, who never really does this, came out with these remarkable comments. I thought it was really captivating, brilliant to see and I would love to see more of it.” Who Struck First In War Of Words? “I'm not 100% sure of the timeline of the comments, but I'd say it would have been fairly tight between them,” Emma Nagle explained. “I saw the Gosden comments coming out on the Monday morning, and I think that Ballydoyle press morning was on the Monday as well. “Maybe Aidan got word of what was being said before he did his interview on Racing TV. “It was good to see it. It adds a bit of excitement. “And, you never know, maybe they might meet again down the line in America or something like that. It's a bit of a loss for Leopardstown.” Watch The Irish Angle Or Listen On Spotify
