Aidan O'Brien Shines at Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival with Spectacular Wins

The Tattersalls Irish Guineas Festival at the Curragh over the weekend brought with it some sparkling action at Headquarters and, as he so often is, Aidan O'Brien was to the fore.

The Ballydoyle trainer won the Irish 1,000 Guineas on Sunday amid a flurry of big-race successes for his talented string. Let’s look back at how his team fared overall.

Saturday double at the Curragh

Irish 2,000 Guineas day at the Curragh was a little on the quiet side for O’Brien, with a seventh place for Officer the best he could manage in the Curragh Classic as Expanded trailed in last under Wayne Lordan in a Group 1 dominated by Field Of Gold for John and Thady Gosden, with the grey going one better than his Newmarket second three weeks earlier.

There was, however, still time for first-and-last race double to bookend the card for O'Brien, with Ryan Moore scoring on Brussels and Propose.

The former, a colt by Wootton Bassett, made a successful debut in the 6f Avenuebloodstock.com Irish EBF Maiden, mastering stablemate Kansas in second spot in what was a good start to proceedings.

The closing Finlay Volvo Irish EBF Maiden over 1m2f went the way of Propose as the 8/13 favourite came clear in the final furlong to score with plenty in hand. He was obliging on his third start and still holds an Irish Derby entry back at the Curragh next month.

Storm fails to register

The major disappointment on Saturday was the expensive Australian sprint import Storm Boy.

He cost the Coolmore operation a princely sum, and started out in the Group 2 Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes over 6f as the 6/4 favourite under Moore.

He was always a bit keen and lost his pitch two furlongs out.

O'Brien has suggested this was a starting point for the son of Justify, with very little homework done, and the trainer anticipates him to take big strides forward when we see him next.

Lake Victoria sparkles in Irish 1,000 Guineas

Sunday was a day to remember not just for Aidan O'Brien but for Ireland's busiest racing family, as the champion trainer’s son Donnacha enjoyed a treble on the card of his own, allied to his father's trio of winners, as together they landed six of the eight races on the card.

Lake Victoria may have lost her unbeaten record in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket, but her trainer was always confident she would leave that run behind and so it proved.

Odds-on for the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas, Moore's mount had to wait briefly on the inside after halfway, but she soon saw daylight and powered home to win by more than two lengths in a dominant success from Adrian Murray's California Dreamer in second.

It was an 11th career success in the Irish 1,000 for O'Brien and his first since Empress Josephine in 2021.

The Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot next month looks the next stopping point for Lake Victoria, with the English and French Guineas winners possible opponents there.

Einstein not needed to spot O'Brien's brilliance

The treble on day two was all quality from the O'Brien runners. In the Group 3 GAIN Marble Hill Stakes, odds-on chance Albert Einstein was briefly under pressure before asserting to win from Power Blue, trainer Murray once more settling for second best.

If that winner showed a willing attitude then the same and far more could be said of Tattersalls Gold Cup scorer Los Angeles.

Last year's Irish Derby winner took his Curragh record to 3-3 as he rallied to fend off old foe Anmaat after the Owen Burrows inmate had briefly gone past under Jim Crowley inside the final furlong.

Los Angeles was having none of it, however, fighting back close to the line and getting a merited win. The Prince of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot and Sandown's Eclipse Stakes are high-summer options for the Camelot colt.