You can't win 'em all the time
While Lillie Langtry has shown she has a heart as big as her barn Capo Blanco demonstrated that it would make a fool to write-off a genuine horse
You win some, you lose some and I guess that's just what makes sport so much fun.
But I'm not too sure if Aidan O'Brien will concur with the second part of the sentence given the lopsided results that he experienced on Saturday even while securing a niche in racing history.
The new master of the Irish turf enjoyed a fantastic afternoon at Leopardstown winning four of the first five races on the card including two Group One victories and a Group Three. Not many trainers can boast of such near total dominance as his on what was by any standards, a competitive day's racing.
While Lillie Langtry, a gutsy filly whose career was almost over when she suffered a slab fracture in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf last year, snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Coolmore Fusaichi Pegasus Matron Stakes, Capo Blanco delivered a huge surprise when he upstaged the likes of Rip Van Winkle and Twice Over to romp home a compelling winner in the Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes.
While Lillie Langtry has shown she has a heart as big as her barn Capo Blanco demonstrated that it would make you a fool to write-off a genuine horse. For, despite wins in the Dante and Irish Derby, he has been largely ignored by both O'Brien and stable jockey Johnny Murtagh, whose affections were directed to horses like St. Nicholas Abbey and Rip Van Winkle.
Moral victory
Rip Van Winkle, however, earned himself a moral victory in the way he fought it out with Eclipse Stakes winner Twice Over to claim second place by a short head in a race for the lesser spoils.
For Capo Blanco was home and dry even before the battle for the runner-up spot even picked up pace.
O'Brien, who has mastered the art of articulating his emotions in the winner's enclosure, was quick to defend Rip Van Winkle's performance while heaping praise on his new star Capo Blanco.
Less than 15 minutes prior to Capo Blanco's heroics in Ireland's flat race of the year O'Brien would have watched on television as his stable star Starspangledbanner finished a disappointing fifth in the Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park in North England where the seven-year-old Markab was a sensational winner.
Even as O'Brien was claiming his place in racing history, by eclipsing the legendary Vincent O'Brien's tally of five wins in the Champion Stakes with Capo Blanco, he was also dealt a reality check with the defeats suffered by his two stable stars.
Guess you can't win ‘em all Aidan.
