O'brien Targets 15 For Spring
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday August 6, 2008
CHAMPION Irish trainer Aidan O'Brien yesterday signalled his intent to extending his current European dominance to Australia when he nominated a staggering 15 horses for Melbourne's three feature spring events.
Only two years after having his first Melbourne runner when Yeats finished seventh in the Melbourne Cup, O'Brien's entries are from the top shelf of his famous Ballydoyle stables and include two of the top-five ranked horses in the world, Duke Of Marmalade and Henrythenavigator, who were entered for the Cox Plate. Racing Victoria Ltd officials were delighted with the nominations for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups and Cox Plate at yesterday's noon deadline, proudly announcing that 66 horses from some of the world's best stables had been entered. "I have no trouble in saying this year's nominations are clearly the best I've seen," RVL's racing operations manager, Leigh Jordon, said. "To see Aidan O'Brien enter so many quality horses reflects very well on our racing. He wants to be here and he clearly wants to win." In all, there were 295 Melbourne Cup entries, with 56 of those from international stables. The Caulfield Cup attracted 37 overseas nominations in a total of 282 and the Cox Plate received 172 nominations, with 11 from overseas. O'Brien is recognised as the best trainer in the world and with 17 victories at group 1 level already this season, he is expected to pass the world record of 25, held by US trainer Bobby Frankel, by the end of the year. Five of O'Brien's entries are rated inside the top 20 grass horses in the world. Four of those horses, Duke Of Marmalade (125), Henrythenavigator (124), Yeats (122) and Frozen Fire (122), are ranked above or alongside Australasia's champion racehorse Weekend Hussler (122), which last season won a record-equalling six group 1 races.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
