A Tale of Two Trainers as Ireland Sweeps BC Turf Trio

DEL MAR, USA — “If we get the horses we can deliver,” said Ger Lyons after proving his point emphatically in the opening Breeders' Cup race on Future Stars Friday. “We have to up our game every day to take on Aidan. It's just fantastically competitive at home.”

That second point was also proved, again and again, in the hours to follow as Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) remained unbeaten in her taking of the Juvenile Fillies Turf and Henri Matisse (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) gave Aidan O'Brien a record-equalling 20th win at the Breeders' Cup with victory in the Juvenile Turf.

For Lyons, the tough little bullet that is Magnum Force (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}) provided a first win at the Breeders' Cup meeting and it is one which the trainer put right up there with winning two Classics within a month in his native Ireland during the early months of the Covid pandemic.

“The secret to training winners is sourcing the horses and that's just a very difficult job to do at the moment,” he said. “But we got this horse and he's just been so professional from day one.”

All three of Friday's turf winners are homebreds – for Coolmore and Sheikh Abdulla Bin Isa Al Khalifa respectively – and that is, after all, what this meeting is all about. Sheikh Abdullah was represented in California by Jerome Hulin of Acorn Stud, where the powerful colt was raised prior to joining Lyons's Glenburnie Stables in Co Meath. He earned his right to a trip across the water for a start in the Juvenile Turf Sprint with his third-place finish in the G2 Flying Childers Stakes, and he had the winner of that race, Aesterius (Ire), and runner-up Big Mojo (Ire), behind him on Friday.

Lyons continued, “When they went by the line in Doncaster I said that the Breeders' Cup was made for this horse – not that I'd know but after watching it for so many years I thought fast pace, fast ground, it was made for this horse.

“It's great that it's down on my CV that I'm a dual Classic-winning trainer but it was Covid and we were on our own in a stand with no buzz. Now, I'll take it, don't get me wrong, but then you come here and you get that – that's what sportsmen want. You work hard and you get more losing days than winning days. Money can't but that.”

Lyons had been successfully elusive during morning track work this week, deftly sidestepping the gathered press at the quarantine barn. When TDN finally caught up with him in the stands on Thursday morning as he watched Magnum Force jump from the gates and breeze past down the stretch he admitted that he preferred to avoid the hubbub.  There was no avoiding it on Friday, however, and though the trainer who famously doesn't like to travel was clearly revelling in this momentous victory for his stable, he was also keen to heap praise on the man who on Sunday will be crowned champion jockey in Ireland for the sixth time. Colin Keane is particularly unassuming for a world-class jockey and the trainer who first signed him up and is effectively his father-in-law is effusive in his praise of the 30-year-old. This was Keane's second win at the meeting after taking the Breeders' Cup Turf on Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal) for the Aga Khan in 2020.

“The icing on the cake is having Colin Keane riding as he is the most under-rated champion jockey on the planet,” Lyons said. “Once you light that man up, the job is easy. I can't tell you all enough. He's the most understated man, he's so humble. He's come over here and won two Breeders' Cups and still nobody knows about him. He's a bit like the trainer in that the two of us like to stay on the farm and walk our dogs and mind our own business. But when he comes out and gets the right ammunition he can deliver, and he's proven that more than once. I'd personally like to see him on the big stage more. I need the world to wake up to him.”

The world was certainly watching on Friday, though Keane did not have long to hang around and soak up the plaudits, even if it had been his style to do so. His flight left California at 7pm, bound, eventually, for Ireland, where on Sunday he'll take six rides at the Curragh and pick up his sixth champion jockey trophy.

“I wouldn't be in the position I am today without that man,” he said, sitting alongside Lyons in the post-race press conference. “He gave me my first job as an apprentice and a lot of people, me included, thought he was mad. I wouldn't be here without him and I'm glad I can repay him.”

A clean sweep of Friday's turf races for Ireland was achieved through the subsequent double strike of Lake Victoria and Henri Matisse for team Coolmore. The latter was the second consecutive son of Wootton Bassett to win the Juvenile Turf after Unquestionable (Fr) last year. Seven of O'Brien's Breeders' Cup wins have come in this race, and his 20th success at this championship puts him on level footing with the legendary D Wayne Lukas.

“We all know what a special man Wayne is and it's an honour really to be anywhere close to him,” said O'Brien in tribute to the 89-year-old Hall of Famer. “What can you say about Wayne? He's such a special man and he's always been such a help to us. He rang me during the week and told me all about this track, the way to ride it, and what to do and what not to do. He was explaining about the Classic and how he thinks we should ride our horse. We're very grateful that he was so good to tell us everything.”

Two wins on the slate, especially with the banker Lake Victoria, may have gone some way to assuaging the nerves in the Coolmore camp ahead of the bid for Classic glory of the most talked-about horse of the meeting, City Of Troy (Justify).

“I'm delighted for everybody as a lot of people put in a lot of hard work to get them here, but tomorrow is another day,” O'Brien said.

Ryan Moore, who now has 16 Breeders' Cup wins of his own, referred to O'Brien's frequent acknowledgement of the team behind the stable's success but insisted that the trainer must take much of the credit himself.

“I remember watching Johannesburg win as a kid and that was, what, 23 years ago,” he said. “What he's done is incredible.”

Johannesburg gave O'Brien his first winner at the Breeders' Cup and he remains his sole winner on the dirt. On Saturday, his great grandson will attempt to become his second and put O'Brien in the clear lead as the most successful trainer in the 41-year history of the meeting.

The future stars of Friday have taken another step forward, but there is one confirmed star who will be occupying the mind of O'Brien as Saturday dawns. Lyons, however, can sleep easy after a job well done.

“Yesterday is yesterday and tomorrow may never come, and I've just won a Breeders' Cup,” he said with obvious glee. “Normally when I leave Ireland shit happens and it doesn't work but it all worked today.”

Indeed it did.