Trainer Aidan O'Brien landed his 100th European classic triumph on Sunday when Epsom Derby (G1) hero Auguste Rodin won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (G1) at the Curragh, securing the coveted classic double.
Coolmore partners and Westerberg's 4-11 favorite Auguste Rodin is O'Brien's fifth Epsom Derby/Irish Derby winner, joining Galileo (2001), High Chaparral (2002), Camelot (2012), and Australia (2016) on the list of just 19 overall to accomplish the feat. He is the first since the Aga Khan's Harzand in 2016 to complete the double.
Third in the early running under Ryan Moore, the Irish-bred Deep Impact colt drew alongside pacesetter Adelaide River, sent off at 33-1, in the straight before asserting himself in the closing strides in a thrilling finish. He crossed the finish line a 1½-length winner and provided Moore his first Irish Derby success.
Convent Garden, 80-1, finished third, 2¼ lengths behind Adelaide River, who held on for second, and Peking Opera, 66-1, was fourth in a 1-2-3-4 finish for the powerhouse team of Coolmore and O'Brien's Ballydoyle.
Time for the 1 1/2 miles was 2:33.24 on turf rated as good.
Victory celebrations were dampened, however, by the fatal breakdown just before the home turn by the connections' San Antonio, a stakes-winning Dubawi colt ridden by Wayne Lordan, who hit the ground hard and was taken to Tallaght Hospital in Dublin for tests, the Independent.ie reports.
“It's terrible for San Antonio,” O'Brien told Racing TV. “When things go wrong in any sport after going 75 percent of the way and the pressure is really going on, that's when devastating stuff can happen and it does happen.
“Thank God Wayne is OK, but it's terrible for San Antonio and we're so sorry for everyone – that lads that looked after him and rode him and did everything with him.”
Coolmore bred Auguste Rodin, a son of Japan's 2005 Triple Crown winner and great sire Deep Impact out of the Galileo mare Rhododendron, a three-time Group 1 winner, who finished a gallant second in the 2017 Epsom Oaks (G1).
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