Derby domination not for everyone

By Alan Conway

Sometimes too much of a good thing can be bad but not if your name is Aidan O’Brien. Aidan and the Coolmore/Ballydoyle team scooped the Dubai Duty Irish Derby for the fifth consecutive time thanks to the victory of Cape Blanco last Sunday. It was also the third time that he has saddled the first three home in Ireland’s premier classic. Yet despite the unique achievement there are whispers of discontent from certain quarters that the race is not what it once was.

I can understand this point of view given the domination that Coolmore has exerted over the race for the past number of years. Along with Montjeu and Hurricane Run, who where both owned by Coolmore when they ran at the Curragh the Tipperary based operation have won the Curragh classic an amazing nine times in the last twelve years. The last non Coolmore horse to win was Grey Swallow in 2004 for Dermot Weld. Not a bad strike rate I think you will agree.

Such domination of a race has rarely been seen before. Never mind in a classic. One has to wonder, do we applaud the efforts of the Coolmore operation and accept their domination or do we look to the rest of the trainers in Ireland and question them?

The argument that the Coolmore detractors use is that they have the best horses and the best bloodlines in the world. Yes they do, but it is not an overnight occurrence. The blue blood that Cape Blanco, Midas Touch and Jan Vermeer possess is from years of careful planning and selection. The tremendous success that Coolmore has enjoyed over the past decade has been the result of decisions that were made thirty years ago. From Northern Dancer, through Sadlers Wells and now Galileo and Montjeu, Coolmore have led the way in breeding horses. The others were and still are playing catch up.

It’s easy for people to take cheap shots when someone is at the top. Aidan O’Brien is ripe for targeting. I think Aidan would agree that he was given a helping hand when he first started training at Ballydoyle with all the blue blooded horses he was given to train. Yet he still had to get the job done. And he has got the job done. Even before he went to Ballydoyle he was rewriting the record books. Ballydoyle was just another step up.

Sometimes they can go over the top. Prime example was when they ran eight runners in the 2007 Derby. But where would horse racing be without Coolmore? Lest we forget that without Coolmore Sea The Stars would have had no opponents in last year’s Juddmonte International at York. They can be criticised for running too many horses but at least they show up to the dance.

When the Godolphin operation was enjoying their period of success there was very little questioning or begrudging. The Dubai operation has even tapped into Coolmore’s success despite having a policy of not buying any Coolmore sired yearlings at the sales. They have acquired sire sons of Galileo and Montjeu in New Approach and Authorized. A back handed compliment if there ever was one.

It is hard to see how other Irish based trainers can hope to stop the Coolmore juggernaut. They have a stranglehold on all the proven stallions and in Ballydoyle they have facility to aid them. If the 2009 season proved anything it is that it takes a once in a generation horse to stop Coolmore. The future for Coolmore looks just as rosy as its recent past.

By Alan Conway