Aidan O'Brien's jockeys - how well was the Ryan Moore gap filled? Last week was a significant one in the racing calendar, as we had Doncaster’s St Leger Festival in Britain and Irish Champions Weekend in Ireland. Ryan Moore’s long term injury has provided the Ballydoyle team with a few headaches as he’s a very hard man to replace. Aidan O’Brien had to come up with some creative solutions, with so much important racing going on, and the trainer had a significant amount of success. Here we analyse the performances of the riding team that O’Brien assembled for the weekend. Christophe Soumillon Being the greatest trainer of his generation, one phone call from Aidan O’Brien would have most jockeys on a plane to wherever they’re asked to go. Christophe Soumillon has a wealth of experience and has ridden (successfully) at the top level for many years. He answered the call and headed over to Doncaster on Friday for three rides and unfortunately drew a blank. Amelia Earhart came closest to getting him up and running, but she just failed to regain the lead from Classic Cuvee in the maiden at 4.10. It was a very different story at Leopardstown on Saturday and Soumillon left Friday’s disappointments well behind him. O’Brien and Soumillon landed a treble, which began with a smart performance from Diamond Necklace, as her jockey gave her the perfect ride. Anyone would have won on Benvenuto Cellini in the Group 1 KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes, so there was never a moment’s doubt for Soumillon on board the son of Frankel. Five lengths was the official winning distance and frankly it could have been more. Imperious aboard Delacroix in the big one, he unleashed the colt’s devastating turn of foot at the right time and it was a sight to behold. There can be no doubt that Soumillon gave Delacroix a cracking ride. Odds-on favourite Gstaad failed to get the better of British raider Zavateri in the National Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday and the jockey perhaps could have done better. Composing was another well fancied favourite, but her performance wasn’t ride-related. Sean Levey, Tom Marquand and Mikael Barzalona Aidan O’Brien landed a nice double at Doncaster on Saturday, which included a 1-3-4 in the St Leger. The ever reliable Tom Marquand was aboard the winner Scandinavia and did his chances of a potential permanent role in the future no harm at all. Sean Levey is an ex-Ballydoyle jockey anyway and he was aboard dual-Derby winner Lambourn who appeared not to get the trip. Puerto Rico produced a career best performance to win the Champagne Stakes earlier on and Levey gave him an excellent front-running ride. Mikael Barzalona was on board the lightly raced Stay True and gave the three-year-old every chance of coming out on top in the St Leger. Ronan Whelan and Dylan Browne McMonagle Ronan Whelan provided a minor surprise by getting the better of both Composing and Venetian Sun in the Moyglare Stud Stakes. Produced late by her rider, this improving filly saw the trip out well and was delivered to perfection. Italy finished third in the National Stakes and Whelan gave him every chance, but the horse had other ideas and gave himself no chance. The son of Wootton Bassett pulled like a train throughout and did well to finish third under the circumstances. Beautify certainly wasn’t a bad spare to pick up for Dylan Browne McMonagle and looked like the winner approaching the two-furlong pole in the Moyglare. It’s possible that she should have won but it seems likely that the best horse came out on top.
