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Aidan O'Brien assembles star-studded team for Qatar Goodwood Festival

25th July 2024

Aidan O'Brien has an impressive line up of runners for Qatar Goodwood Festival including a previous Goodwood winner Kyprios.

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Qatar Goodwood Festival 2022, Goodwood Racecourse, Chichester, West Sussex, 20220726 Dominic James

Ballydoyle will be well represented in all three Group 1s at Goodwood next week with Kyprios (Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup), Henry Longfellow (Qatar Sussex Stakes) and Opera Singer (Qatar Nassau Stakes) all set to travel over from Ireland to West Sussex.

Kyprios won a vintage renewal of the 2022 Goodwood Cup beating Stradivarius and Trueshan in a pulsating race. He missed last year’s race when recovering from, what his trainer described as, a life-threatening injury but has returned in 2024 in excellent form with three wins including most recently in the Ascot Gold Cup last month.

His trainer Aidan O’Brien reported him to be in good form, he said: “Kyprios is in good form. He’s lazy in his work but we’re very happy with him. Everything has gone well since Ascot. We are very happy with him.”

When asked about the injury that nearly curtailed his career, O’Brien said: “It was a long process. At one stage we didn’t think he’d live, but when he got through that part, we had to teach him how to use his joint and walk again. When he started walking again, he had to walk on a very slow treadmill with bails on either side of him to stop him falling over. That should tell you where he came from. It’s incredible really, I never thought he would race ever again. There are so many people I should be mentioning who were involved in getting him back so all
credit to them.”

O’Brien continued: “He’s a very special horse and has a lot of class. He has a lot more class than most people think. He does stay which is unusual but he’d have no problem being a group horse over 1m2f. As he goes up in distance, he just gets better. Those good stayers are very rare. When you go to those distances, very few horses get them really, but he has the class and gets the trip as well.”

O’Brien also reported that Point Lonsdale could join him in the race. He said: “Point Lonsdale could possibly join him. We had it in our minds that if the ground was very fast at Goodwood, then we’d have to think about whether we want to risk Kyprios. Hopefully he will run but even if he doesn't, Point Lonsdale is going to be an unbelievable sub. He handles fast ground and shows he gets 1m7f well. He might get 2m as well. He’s a horse with a lot of class and we saw in his last run he wasn’t beaten far in a Group 1 over 1m4f. He’s a lovely horse with a great mind.”

Wednesday’s £1 million Qatar Sussex Stakes is set to be a re-match of the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot with Rosallion, Henry Longfellow and Notable Speech meeting again. O’Brien has won the race six times and is one win away from tying Sir Henry Cecil’s record of seven wins in the 1-mile feature.

Henry Longfellow finished second to Rosallion at Ascot but O’Brien is hoping he’ll progress from Ascot, he said: “We’re looking forward to him in Goodwood. We always thought he was a special horse based on what he did last year. We were over the moon with his run at Royal Ascot. If we’d got a clearer run in France, we would have known more going into Ascot, so we went into Ascot just learning about him. There’s every chance he’ll progress.”

Thursday’s feature is the Qatar Nassau Stakes and Aidan O’Brien is set to saddle Opera Singer. Having finished second to Porta Fortuna in the 1-mile Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, the daughter of Justify will step up to 1-mile 2 furlongs for the first time.

The extra distance will bring out improvement in her according to her trainer who said: “We were delighted with Opera Singer at Ascot. The other horse who led just messed up her pace a little bit but we were over the moon with her. We were always going to step up to go to 1m2f in the Qatar Nassau Stakes with her after that. We’re very happy with her and everything has gone well since Ascot.”

When asked about the test at Goodwood, O’Brien said: “She has an incredible pedigree and is by Justify which just makes her extra special. We think she’ll be happy with the trip and track and she can probably go even further too.”

The unbeaten Jan Brueghel is set to run in the Group 3 John Pearce Racing Gordon Stakes with a view to a possible tilt in the final Classic of the season, the St Leger at Doncaster in September.

“The plan with Jan Brueghel is the Gordon Stakes. He’s going up to 1m4f. We always thought he was going to stay and could stay further. We’re very happy with him. He’s a very relaxed and laid-back horse who has had two lovely runs this year. We thought this would fit into his programme well.”

Aidan O’Brien has never won the Group 2 Qatar Lillie Langtry Stakes since its inception in 2003 but he’s hoping Grateful can build on her recent Group 3 success by winning the filly and mare contest on Saturday 3 August.

O’Brien said: “She’s a Galileo filly and she’s the last of the Galileo’s out of Tepin. She has the most incredible pedigree. We were delighted with her last time when she stepped up in distance. She was still green when she got to the front. Ronan Whelan rode her and thought she would come forward again.”

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