Aidan O'Brien on the 'very legitimate' excuse behind Paddington's flop in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes

Aidan O’Brien felt keenness was Paddington’s undoing after he finished a well-beaten ninth in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

The top three-year-old was having his first start in almost two months on the back of defeat in the Juddmonte International at York in August.

Paddington, who was sent off the 7-4 favourite, was positioned prominently but connections felt he overraced before his effort petered out with two furlongs to run. Ryan Moore looked after the four-time Group 1 winner in the closing stages, finishing just over 35 lengths behind the winner Big Rock.

O’Brien said: “He might have been a bit fresh. He jumped out of the stalls and locked on with Ryan and he doesn’t usually do that. He grabbed the bit and wouldn’t let it go – he didn’t settle for the first half of the race and you can’t do that in that ground.

“It’s a good while since he ran and he was definitely going to improve on the run. Ryan minded him after he’d done too much and it’s a very legitimate excuse.”

The Breeders’ Cup Mile is an option for Paddington, who won the Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace, Coral-Eclipse and Sussex Stakes in a seven-race winning streak. He drifted to 10-1 (from 10-3 favourite) with Paddy Power for the Santa Anita contest on November 4.

“The lads will have to decide whether we go again with him and go to the Breeders’ Cup or if we leave him at that,” said O’Brien on Racing TV. “He obviously doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody. I’ve really forced him through the season and made him turn up day in day out.”

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