Aidan O’Brien secured his first Irish Guineas double in nine years at the Curragh. Churchill and Winter did the business in 2017, while it was Gstaad and Precise who earned the goods this year.
Gstaad won on Saturday in fine style in the Irish 2000 Guineas. He was unlucky to bump into a very good horse in the English 2000 Guineas. Bow Echo was absent at the Curragh having dominated at Newmarket, but Gstaad filled in ably to win comfortably. The son of Starspangledbanner was eight lengths ahead of the third when beaten at HQ and retained a three-length advantage on home shores.
Ryan Moore was aboard once more and was very complimentary about his partner.
“He had a nice draw. He was sat out there on the wing, but he was comfortable,” Moore told RTE as reported by the BBC. “Nothing was able to get in his way and we kept it very uncomplicated.
“I just kept asking him to creep forward from halfway. He’s got quite an extravagant stride and when able to use it, he’s an impressive horse.
“He did deserve that, he has been second a few times and has never run a bad race. Sometimes things went against him last year.
“He has come back and he is a big, ‘scopey’ horse and looks like he can progress further.”
Moore wrong again as swap proves imprecise
Moore was aboard Precise when the 1000 Guineas favourite was only seventh at Newmarket. As such, he deserted her in favour of that race’s winner True Love. Many would have agreed with his decision, but the tables were surprisingly turned.
Bouncing back to the best of her juvenile form, Precise swooped round the entire field under Wayne Lordan. She stormed down the outside to ultimately win the fillies’ Classic comfortably.
Either way, the victory was glorious for O’Brien, who completed a Curragh Classic double for the first time in nine years. As reported by Sky Sports, he said in the aftermath on Sunday: “She really stepped forward today and Wayne gave her a beautiful ride.
“It is very difficult on Ryan and we discussed riding arrangements before declaration time. It was very hard for him not to ride True Love and he didn’t ride her in Newmarket because we weren’t sure she would get a mile, but she did.
“Precise was only beaten five lengths at Newmarket, which isn’t that much for this type of filly but she is a serious one and is as good as we’ve had. It looks like she will have no problem going further.”