Americans witness O`Brien`s genius

Officer was unbeatable, wasn`t he? Surely a European horse having his first run on dirt couldn`t hope to topple the awesome American colt.

But someone forgot to tell the boys from Ballydoyle - who took their all conquering juvenile brigade to new frontiers at Belmont Park last night with the historic triumph of Johannesburgh.

Aidan O`Brien`s genius is well documented on this side of the Atlantic but the American racing community was made to acknowledge it for the first time when witnessing the first Irish-trained winner of the Breeders` Cup Juvenile destroy the best they had to offer.

His preparation for the race went against everything that would constitute a normal build-up for a US hopeful coming into the top two-year-old contest in the Stateside calendar.

After all Johannesburgh was making his debut on dirt having just arrived in the country a few days earlier. He had never raced beyond six furlongs and had only set foot once on the track to gallop - and that was the day before the race.

But once again O`Brien got it spot on and the son of Hennessy lived up to his pedigree and the strong belief of his trainer that he would be even better on the American surface.

The colt had already established himself as champion of Europe after Group One wins at Leopardstown, Deauville and Newmarket but their were fears that the Juvenile was asking a bit much.

The pace and the style of racing in America is so much different to Europe and it remained to be seen if the colt could adapt to this at the first time of asking.

But the doubts were soon dispelled when the gates opened as, despite a slow start, Michael Kinane moved Johannesburgh into the perfect position behind the big two, Officer and Came Home.

Kinane was content to get a tow until they flattened out in the straight and, although no gaps appeared in front of him, he had so much horse under him that he could afford to switch wide and launch his challenge.

The response was electric as thefamous Michael Tabor colours swept into the lead and powered away from what many believed was one of the strongest fields ever gathered for the Juvenile.

The big question afterwards was obviously if the Americans would get to see him again for the Kentucky Derby next May and although the winner of this race has yet to win the big one at Churchill Downs it would be hard to imagine O`Brien and co. not trying to accomplish yet another amazing feat next year.

Johannesburg was a glorious success but the performances of the other members of the Ballydoyle raiding party were a mixed bag.

Sophisticat started off proceedings with a solid run in the Juvenile Fillies when finishing a respectable fifth after staying on one-paced for strong riding.

Bach ran up to his very best to claim a superb third place in the Mile behind Val Royal. Kinane`s mount responded well in the straight to stay on gamely all the way to the line on the firm turf.

Milan gave Fantastic Light a scare in theTurf when he belied doubts that the hard ground would prove against him by launching a stunning surge around the home turn and eating up the ground in the straight to only finish three-quarters-of-a-length down on the Godolphin horse.

Mozart, however, never got into contention in the Sprint after a slow start and was always struggling - finishing a never dangerous 11th.

The most disappointing effort of the night came from the camp`s flagship, Galileo, who failed to find another gear in the Classic and came home a well-beaten sixth.

The dual-Derby winner was well-positioned by Kinane just behind the speed but when asked for an effort before the turn it was soon apparent he had no more to give and Ireland`s Champion three-year-old could only stay on at the same pace.

His stablemate Black Minnaloushe, the Irish 2,000 Guineas winner, didn`t fare any better and trailed in tenth after never threatening at any stage.