Los Angeles strikes in thrilling Irish-dominated finish for Aidan O'Brien and Christophe Soumillon

Los Angeles added his name to the ever-growing list of Aidan O'Brien's Classic armada for 2024, making light of soft ground to win an Irish-dominated climax to the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

An impressive winner on his debut at Tipperary, the son of Camelot burst up the stands' rail under Christophe Soumillon to deny Islandsinthestream, trained by O'Brien's son Joseph. Stablemate Illinois, ridden by Ballydoyle number one Ryan Moore, finished a neck and three-quarters of a length away in third.

Los Angeles was cut to 20-1 (from 40) by Paddy Power for next year's Derby, for which City Of Troy heads the market at 5-2, while he was trimmed to the same price for the Epsom Classic with Coral (from 33).

With Diego Velazquez set to put his Classic pretensions on the line in Saturday's Kameko Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, Los Angeles has emerged from quieter waters for O'Brien, all of whose four previous winners of this race – Ballingarry, Alberto Giacometti, Fame And Glory and Recital – had previously won only a maiden.

"It’s a great race at a good time of the year and it’s a tough race, you need a good horse to win it," said O'Brien. "They have to stay very well and it's good experience for them going into the winter.

"It’s a place we love coming to because it’s a good stepping stone for them going from two to three, and it's a Group 1, which is important."

Turning to Los Angeles, O'Brien said: "Christophe was very happy with him. He's a very big horse and you'd imagine he's going to be much better next year. We felt the experience would do him good, and Christophe said he picked up very well.

"Joseph's horse is a good colt and Illinois ran a stormer, but Christophe said Los Angeles could be a Classic horse and that's something to look forward to."

Aidan O'Brien and Christophe Soumillon with Criterium de Saint-Cloud winner Los Angeles

Illinois, a Galileo half-brother to Arc and King George heroine Danedream, also arrived here off the back of a single success and lost little in defeat.

"Ryan was very happy with Illinois," said O'Brien. "He’s still a baby and will improve plenty."

Beaten a neck having come with what looked a well-timed run by Maxime Guyon, Islandsinthestream finished a good deal closer to Los Angeles than he did to Henry Longfellow who beat him five lengths in the Group 1 National Stakes, a performance which ensured he went off odds-on when winning the valuable Arqana Sales race over Arc weekend.

"I’m very proud of his performance under a very good ride from Maxime," said Joseph O'Brien. "It’s frustrating to be just beaten in a Group 1, but it was a good run.

"He’ll have a holiday now and we’ll look at Group 1s for three-year-olds next year. He's a colt we’ll probably campaign internationally, as well as at home."

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