Ballydoyle Curragh Gallops

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chroniclandlord

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The Ballydoyle handler traditionally puts a number of his luminaries through their paces following the first day of the Irish turf Flat season, and this year worked 68 horses, including triple Classic winner Camelot.
Of the three-year-olds, O'Brien worked Mars, Cristoforo Colombo and Breeders' Cup Turf scorer George Vancouver.

The most notable absentee was Kingsbarns, who is recovering from a foot infection which could see him miss the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on April 4.

Ballydoyle's horses worked in four 17-runner groups, with the first batch consisting largely of three-year-old colts, including Pedro The Great, Cristoforo Colombo, Declaration Of War and George Vancouver.

Pick of the bunch was Mars, who travelled fluently from the start of an eight-furlong workout.

Next up came the chance for some of the older brigade to shine.
Camelot was unsurprisingly the smoothest operator as he briskly came from the back to the front of the field under the trainer's son, Joseph.
Other horses to feature in that team included Battle Of Marengo, who also showed promise.

The third group featured a number of three-year-old fillies, such as Snow Queen, Hanky Panky and Moth, while the final Ballydoyle squad consisted of the likes of Memphis Tennessee and Eye Of The Storm.
O'Brien said: "Camelot is a big, gassy horse. He was fresh early on, but it was so great to see the horse in that form. He will probably start off in the Mooresbridge Stakes or the Alleged Stakes, and then go on to the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

"Coming here, we weren't sure if Mars was a Guineas or a horse for a Derby trial, but we were so happy with the way he worked it's very possible he'll go straight to the Guineas.

"The three Henrys (sons of Henrythenavigator) - Cristoforo Colombo, Pedro The Great and George Vancouver - all worked well and we are really happy with them. All three of will also run in the 2000 Guineas.
"George Vancouver went really well and he's one to have a fiver on each-way in the Guineas.

"Snow Queen probably looked like a filly for the 1000 Guineas. I was very, very happy with Moth as well. Battle Of Marengo will probably start off in a Derby trial somewhere.

"There's a one-mile Listed race for Declaration Of War coming up, and if that works out well he might go for the Lockinge."
Of Ballydoyle's Guineas team, Cristoforo Colombo is currently the shortest in Sky Bet's betting at 7-1.

O'Brien also had news on his team for Dubai World Cup night, headed by St Nicholas Abbey in the Dubai Sheema Classic, next Saturday.

He said: "St Nicholas Abbey runs. Reply will run in the one-mile race (Godolphin Mile) if he gets in - he's currently first reserve - but if not he'll run in the six-furlong race (Dubai Golden Shaheen).

"Starspangledbanner runs in the (Al Quoz) sprint. Imperial Monarch will run in the two-mile race (Dubai Gold Cup). We're not sure he'll get the trip but we'll see. Lines of Battle will run in the UAE Derby."

( SportingLife.com)
 
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This should have been the most important part of the day but following on from Leopardstown from the viewers point of view it was another total shambles.

Of course ATR were not helped by having Bob 'bumbling fool' Cooper on studio duty and Gary O'Brien and Kevin Blake suddenly going missing - were they working on course or just garnering the information for themselves? The on-course announcer was of little help.

This was a high profile gallop. The horses appeared to have different coloured caps. Was it too much for the Course to insist that O'Brien produced a full list of ALL the horses involved enabling viewers to have a proper commentary or at least make up their own minds as to how the horses had worked?

Has anyone got idea who the horse was who worked on the bridle towards the rear of the first group (red cap)?
 
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Hard to get a grip of what really happened there.
Cristoforo was not galloping in the first lot, was he? I am pretty sure he was the one finishing fifth in the second lot.
The winner of the third lot was was,was not she? :whistle:
 
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treetangle said:
Was it too much for the Course to insist that O'Brien produced a full list of ALL the horses involved enabling viewers to have a proper commentary or at least make up their own minds as to how the horses had worked?
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I was at the Curragh for this meeting in 2010 and 2011, and I know that O'Brien supplied a full list of horses and cap colours to the crowd on both occasions, but I don't know if today was any different.
 
Yes, a list of riders and cap colours was provided for the key horses in each group. Only 29 of the 70+ horses were identified. It was Nephrite with the red cap in the first group. If Was was there, she wasn't identified.
 
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Thanks to everyone who has added.

It just seems strange if you are going to go to the trouble of all the different caps why not give a full list. We all know even the poorest of the bunch might end up being placed to win a race.

Clearly they didn't want to do that much with Nephrite but I got the impression he was full of himself and could easily have quickened up to the next bunch had they so wished. Having said that these gallops can be misleading, you only have to look at Golantilla the other day. Most of us don't know on a day to day basis which are the good and bad workhorses amongst the bunch. It is probably easier to pick out those who seem to be struggling.
 
treetangle said:
Thanks to everyone who has added.

It just seems strange if you are going to go to the trouble of all the different caps why not give a full list. We all know even the poorest of the bunch might end up being placed to win a race.

Clearly they didn't want to do that much with Nephrite but I got the impression he was full of himself and could easily have quickened up to the next bunch had they so wished. Having said that these gallops can be misleading, you only have to look at Golantilla the other day. Most of us don't know on a day to day basis which are the good and bad workhorses amongst the bunch. It is probably easier to pick out those who seem to be struggling.
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There was unexposed horses galloping and there was also last minute decisions as to what was working (ground decisions) which made the list hard to sort out. The groups were slightly shuffled at a late stage (fillies switched between last two groups). Some went and worked on poly track who would have worked at the Curragh on a normal work day.
 
Was good to see Camelot canter past his group with ease. Hopefully fully recovered from his illness now. The surprise was that one of the unnamed horses was able to finish alongside him fairly comfortable. Turns out it was North Dakota, a once-raced maiden, half-brother of Royal Lodge/Dee Stakes winner Admiralofthefleet (same family as Machiavellian) with entries in... absolutely nothing!
 
Gareth Flynn said:
Was good to see Camelot canter past his group with ease. Hopefully fully recovered from his illness now. The surprise was that one of the unnamed horses was able to finish alongside him fairly comfortable. Turns out it was North Dakota, a once-raced maiden, half-brother of Royal Lodge/Dee Stakes winner Admiralofthefleet (same family as Machiavellian) with entries in... absolutely nothing!
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How did you manage to find that out?
 
Surely the Irish angle on ATR covered this extensively today. Its probably on the website.
 
Like humans, horses enjoy a change of surroundings from time to time. They get a buzz from being loaded into a horsebox and taken somewhere else, it gets them more up for it.
 
[QUOTENot too up for it, I hope. ][/QUOTE]

Some of us on here had shares in a horse, Fal Agh Bagh that was never the same again after going berserk when being loaded for a trip to the races.
 
Anybody knows what happened to The United States? If he still in training?
 
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