Donnacha O’Brien slams 'brutal' ride by Foley Trainer Donnacha O’Brien has slammed Shane Foley’s ‘brutal’ ride on Hotazhell in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday. Foley picked up an 11-day ban for careless riding after his mount drifted left in the closing stages, coming across A Boy Named Susie. O’Brien’s charge couldn’t recover late on, finishing fifth behind the Jessica Harrington-trained winner in the Irish Champions Festival highlight. “I thought it was brutal riding from ‘Dusty’ to be honest,” said O’Brien at the Curragh on Sunday. “If a claimer did that you’d give them a bollocking. That’s racing and I’m sure he’d know that himself. “Paddy (Harnett) hit a horse one extra in Cork the other day and got a similar ban to what Shane got so it’s frustrating. “Oisin thought he was coming to win, he thought he was going better than the winner at the time. “I think he had the quickest second last to last furlong and then he obviously just got wiped. “He’s a good horse and he seems okay afterwards so it could be worse. “It’s so hard to get horses that good and to get them right on the day. To get to a race like that with a chance is so hard that it is frustrating. “We’ll make sure he’s okay and the Breeders’ Cup is an option. I think the Hong Kong Cup would be a nice option for him in December. That’s definitely something we’re thinking about. “I think we’ll keep him next year as well so we have a lot of options. “He seems A1 so we’ll live to fight another day.”
