O'Brien to fore again as Capri edges out Cracksman and Eagles

Aidan O'Brien won his 12th Irish Derby at the Curragh on Saturday, but not with the horse many were expecting as Epsom Derby winner Wings Of Eagles could finish only third behind Capri in a thrilling climax to the Classic.

Only a neck and a short head separated the first three home, the John Gosden-trained Cracksman, third at Epsom, filling the runner-up spot this time.

Capri was a third success in the race for Seamie Heffernan, who landed back-to-back runnings in 2007 and 2008 on Soldier Of Fortune and Frozen Fire. After those victories he was quoted as saying that being second jockey at Ballydoyle was one of the best jobs in the world, an opinion that is unlikely to have changed.

O’Brien's 12th win in the race came 20 years after his first with Desert King, and with Capri – who finished sixth at Epsom – hit the front two furlongs out and stayed on well to repel his challengers.

Waldgeist, the Prix du Jockey Club runner-up and a first ride in Ireland for France’s champion jockey Pierre-Charles Boudot, was one and a half lengths behind the favourite Wings Of Eagles in fourth.

Heffernan said: "We’ve always liked Capri since he won at Galway last year. He’s run well in some very good races. The beautiful ground and the track, which is so different to Epsom, played to his strengths. There was nowhere to hide out there and Capri saw out the trip well.”

Capri was cut to 5-1 (from 14) for the St Leger by sponsor William Hill, but according to O’Brien there are no definite plans for the winner.

He said: “We’ll wait a week or ten days before deciding where Capri might go next. I suppose we’ll consider the King George although the plan is to run Highland Reel in it.

“We’ll see what the lads want to do and it’s possible we might give Capri a break and bring him back in the autumn and it might be the same story with Wings Of Eagles, who ran a very good race and is a horse with plenty of class.”

Cracksman reversed Epsom placings with Wings Of Eagles, and despite his neck defeat Gosden was thrilled with his colt’s performance.

He said: “Our horse has run a super race. He’s still a work in progress and he’s run really well. He had to come around the outside but that’s racing. I’m thrilled with him. Pat [Smullen] gave us a very accurate report when he came in.”

Smullen said: “Cracksman never really travelled as well as I had hoped but he really got it together in the closing stages and my gut feeling is that we’ve yet to see the best of him. He should go on to better things in the coming months and should make a lovely four-year-old.”

O’Brien and Coolmore supremo John Magnier have long been fans of the Curragh racecourse and have been in favour of the Irish Derby continuing to be run at the track during its redevelopment.

And at the post-race press conference both of them referred to the race being run at the Curragh this year and again next year. “You have to suffer some pain for long-term gain. Cracksman and Waldgeist would not have run in today’s race had it been run elsewhere. It would have been just a domestic affair," Magnier said.

O’Brien said: “We are so lucky to have a track as good as the Curragh. The situation for three-year-olds over a mile and a half gets sorted to a point at Epsom but there is no track in the world which provides as good a test over a mile and a half for three-year-olds as the Curragh.”

Gosden also said running the race at the Curragh was the right thing to do. “Leopardstown is a very good track for the one and a quarter miles of the Irish Champion Stakes but not for top one-and-a-half- mile races. It was the right decision to keep the Irish Derby here," he said.

Irish Derby result and analysis