From O'Brien's 5 winners to a husband and wife G1 quinella Longchamp had it all!
The abovementioned quinella occurred in the G1 Prix de l'Abbaye on Sunday when Tom Marquand on Makarova headed wife Hollie Doyle on Bradsell. Can't think of another husband and wife quinella at G1 level so that was historic.
And there was the win by the supplemented Bluestocking in the Arc etc.
Saturday saw Aidan O'Brien win all the four races in which he had runners starting off with Illinois who won the Chadenay and then Kyprios who won the Cadran. Both horses had to work hard to get their wins but both triumphed in the end, Illinois beating Trafalgar Square and Kyprios beating Trueshan.
The Wildenstein went to Chris Head in what was to be the first part of a great double with Ramadan 14/1 defeating Andromède 12/1 and Alcantor and on Sunday Ramatuelle defeating Kinross in a closely contest Prix de la Forêt and our old pal Beauvatier third on 23/1. Lemaitre riding both Head winners.
Grateful 20/1 won the Royallieu in a fitting tribute to her dam Tepin who had died earlier in the day. This was another O'Brien win this time with Soumillon in the saddle. River of Stars was second and one of our tips Mistral Star third on 9/1.
Jayarebe won the Dollar from Almaqam with Birr Castle third.
O'Brien and Ryan Moore also won the 2yo conditions race with Mount Killimanjaro.
Saturday's sun was replaced by Sunday's rain and a very autumnal sky although it did stop raining before the Arc. And it started off with a bang when Vertical Blue won the Boussac at 100/1 (33/1 if you took the ante-post) for Graffard-Pouchin with the hot favourite Zarigana brave in defeat, and the winner's stablemate Exactly who had led most of the way clinging on to third.
Another O'Brien winner in the Lagardere but not the one expected as it was Camille Pissaro with Soumillon up who stole the race from Rashabar and Misunderstood. Henri Matisse didn't seem to like the going which jockeys described as softer than on Saturday.
After the Abbaye mentioned earlier the Arc came and apart from one unfortunate incident which caused several horses to be impacted including Mqse de Sevigné Bluestocking emerged from the pack and strode through as if she woned the race and the racecourse. The 4yo daughter of Camelot gave Rossa Ryan his first G1 and was a great relief to trainer Ralph Beckett in justifying her 120,000 euros supplement fee.
Aventure ran a blinder for second and could even be called unlucky with Los Angeles holding on for third and Sosie fourth. Look de Vega was never in it and the same with Shin Emperor who was too keen at the start for a race of this distance. The very sad part of the race was that Haya Zark suffered a fatal injury and had to be put down. The highs and the lows of racing.
After this Kieren Shoemark won his first G1 since appointed to the Gosden team when he rode a top race to get Friendly Soul 9/1 over the line in the Opéra. Stablemate Running Lion 25/1 was second with Oisin Murphy riding and Sparkling Plenty one of our tips third.
And as mentioned earlier Ramatuelle won the Forêt and may now go to the Breeders' Cup with the veteran Kinross second.
