Looking back at Aidan O'Brien's first Classic winner 25 years ago this weekend

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Here he looks back to Classic Park's triumph in the 1,000 Guineas of 1997, the first of Aidan O'Brien's Classic winners and still a prominent name in pedigrees thanks to her son Walk In The Park, among others - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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A quarter of a century ago this weekend Aidan O’Brien saddled the first of his 95 – and counting – Classic winners, when Classic Park beat her better fancied stablemate Strawberry Roan to take the Irish 1,000 Guineas.

Looking back now, the Curragh heroine was something of a bellwether for several other Classic-winning fillies who later emerged from Ballydoyle, in that she had been so highly tried at two, and had looked far from an obvious Classic winner by the end of that season.

Classic Park had been an easy winner at the Curragh on her debut, but didn’t score in any of her other seven starts that year, signing off for the winter with a disappointing 13th in the Redcar Two-Year-Old Trophy.

That busy juvenile CV resembles those of successors such as Homecoming Queen, Qualify and Snowfall, with the pattern probably reflective of how O’Brien isn’t under the same pressure to protect the records of the future broodmares he has in his care as he is the stallion prospects.

Nevertheless, I’d suggest that the trainer’s willingness to let his fillies take their chances in the big races on a regular basis even when they don’t appear to be the best qualified horse in the field – the spirit of ‘you’ve got to be in it to win it’, if you will – is one of the less heralded of his many qualities.

Classic Park was given a suitably lofty target for her three-year-old bow, taking on 12-length Killavullan Stakes winner Shell Ginger and CL Weld Park Stakes scorer Token Gesture in the Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial over seven furlongs, and yet she managed to win. She did so by only a short head, though, and was still regarded as more of a sprinter than a miler by many.

As it turned out, her speed came in handy in the Irish 1,000 Guineas as she got first run on the more stoutly bred Strawberry Roan – already a Sadler’s Wells half-sister to a Derby winner in Generous and later to become a full-sister to an Oaks winner in Imagine – who suffered a troubled passage before finishing with a flourish, but ultimately in vain pursuit of the winner.

Classic Park didn’t manage to trouble the judge later in her career, but she lost little caste in defeat when fourth to Rebecca Sharp in the Coronation Stakes, fifth to Ali-Royal in the Sussex Stakes and fifth again behind Spinning World in the Prix du Moulin, not beaten far each time.

The filly, who had been bought on spec as a yearling for just 30,000gns from breeder Lady Halifax, won just shy of £120,000 in prize-money on the track and was later a money-spinning broodmare for the Burns family’s Lodge Park Stud.

She produced six winners, headed by Derby runner-up Walk In The Park, who had been sold by the operation as a yearling to Mags O’Toole for €130,000, Lockinge Stakes fourth Secret World, a €165,000 purchase by John Warren, and Listed scorer Soon, a 75,000gns signing by Demi O’Byrne.

Several of her daughters have proved to be useful broodmares too, with Park Crystal, an unraced Danehill mare, producing Dick Hern Fillies’ Stakes winner Crystal Gal, and Puzzled, a placed daughter by Peintre Celebre, producing Hackwood Stakes winner Tabdeed.

Classic Park’s name appears in pedigrees of winners on a regular basis throughout the winter, and looks as though it will continue to do so for many years to come, as Walk In The Park has developed into one of the most in-demand jumps sires in Ireland.

The in-demand Walk In The Park, who is out of Classic ParkCredit: Coolmore

The son of Montjeu was sold by Coolmore at the end of his racing career to become a stallion in France, where he sired the superstars Douvan and Min while standing in relative obscurity, which stirred his former owners into buying him back and adding him to their National Hunt roster.

He has covered sizeable books of mares at lofty fees since – 703 from 2019 to 2021 alone – and there was a clamour for his services again this year as his first Irish-conceived crop of five-year-olds included the Cheltenham and Punchestown Champion Bumper hero Facile Vega, fellow jumps black-type winners Ashroe Diamond, Haute Estime and Mullenbeg, and numerous blockbuster-priced point-to-point scorers.

A horse like Facile Vega might boast Walk In The Park, a Derby runner-up by Montjeu, as his sire and Quevega, a six-time Cheltenham Festival winner, as his dam but the sentimentalist in me still likes to think he owes a good dash of his class to Classic-winning paternal granddam Classic Park.

The Irish Guineas weekend of 1997 was about to get a lot better for O’Brien as a day after Classic Park’s success he doubled his tally of Classic winners when Desert King slammed Verglas by three lengths to win the colts’ race.

Desert King, a son of Danehill who went on to also win the Irish Derby and finish second in the Juddmonte International and Irish Champion Stakes, initially stood at Coolmore and shuttled to Australia. He sired the likes of three-time Melbourne Cup heroine Makybe Diva, Gold Cup victor Mr Dinos and Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Chelsea Rose, who later became the dam of St Leger winner Kew Gardens, another Coolmore National Hunt sire.

The Irish 2,000 Guineas card also featured a two-year-old maiden that was won, by eight lengths in incredibly impressive fashion, by the colt who would give O’Brien his fourth Classic victory: King Of Kings.

As for the Newmarket 2,000 Guineas-winning son of Sadler's Wells' stallion career, probably the less said the better.

What do you think?

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