James J Braddock ready to make a good fist of it
KILDARE, Ireland – Joseph O’Brien feels there is plenty of reason to be optimistic, as James J Braddock heads to The Curragh on June 28 for a potential rematch with Christmas Day in the €1.25 million (S$1.85 million) Group 1 Irish Derby (2,400m). Named after a famous heavyweight boxing champion fro
By Michael Lee
KILDARE, Ireland – Joseph O’Brien feels there is plenty of reason to be optimistic, as James J Braddock heads to The Curragh on June 28 for a potential rematch with Christmas Day in the €1.25 million (S$1.85 million) Group 1 Irish Derby (2,400m).
Named after a famous heavyweight boxing champion from the 1930s, James J Braddock – who is co-owned by ITV Racing presenter Kevin Blake with Australian connections led by Ozzie Kheir of Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant fame – showed plenty of coltish attributes throughout the pre-race parade at Epsom.
But it certainly did not stop the Karak colt from performing on the track as he came home an excellent third, five and a quarter lengths behind Christmas Day, trained by O’Brien’s legendary father Aidan.
Fresh off the back of an excellent Royal Ascot, which featured five winners and resulted in a second-place finish to his father (five wins against seven) in the trainers’ standings, O’Brien is confident further improvement will come out within his performance back on home soil.
“We’ve been very happy with his prep since Epsom, and to be honest, we think he’ll probably be better suited by The Curragh,” said O’Brien.
“Hopefully he will be more focused on his job and hopefully that translates to a better performance.”
O’Brien, who as well as claiming two Irish Derbies during his time in the saddle, is going in search of a second as a trainer eight years on from Latrobe providing him with his first Classic.
On being able to turn the form around with Christmas Day, he said: “I’d like to think we can get closer (to Christmas Day) anyway.
“Epsom Derby winners have a pretty good record coming back to The Curragh, but at the same time it looks like there’ll be a fairly significant difference in the conditions, more than what you would normally get.
“So maybe that just opens the door a little bit for people taking him on.”
O’Brien also suggested that he will leave the decision as to whether Thundering On turns up in this weekend’s €400,000 Group 1 Pretty Polly Stakes (2,000m) as late as possible.
The Frankel filly put up a power-packed performance to land the Group 1 Epsom Oaks (2,400m) in fine style on June 6 and could drop back to 2,000m to face her elders for the first time at The Curragh.
“There is a good chance that she might turn up there, but we’ll just see how she is during the week,” said O’Brien at a press morning on June 23.
“Obviously when you’re backing up so soon you kind of have to leave the final decision as late as possible, but we’re very happy with how she’s been since Epsom.
“We won the Pretty Polly with her dam (Thundering Nights) and if she did turn up, you’d imagine she’d be a short-priced favourite.” RACING AND SPORTS