The G1 Japan Cup at Tokyo Racecourse on Sunday, November 24 has been identified as a potential end-of-season target for Auguste Rodin (Ire) after he got his four-year-old campaign back on track with victory in the G1 Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Royal Ascot.
A four-time winner at the top level as a three-year-old when landing the Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf, Auguste Rodin was unable to add to those victories in two starts earlier this year, first trailing home last in the G1 Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan in March and then proving no match for White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}) when filling the runner-up spot in the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh.
However, any concerns that Auguste Rodin's talents might be on the wane were erased at Ascot where he gained the sixth Group/Grade 1 success of his career in comfortable fashion, always doing enough to beat French raider Zarakem (Fr) (Zarak {Fr}) by three quarters of a length. Connections are now looking forward to the rest of the season with the son of Deep Impact (Jpn)–the late stallion who memorably won the Japan Cup back in 2006.
Considering future targets for Auguste Rodin and star three-year-old City Of Troy (Justify), trainer Aidan O'Brien said, “They both have different options for the second half of the season and Auguste Rodin could be a Japan Cup horse.
“He has won at the Breeders' Cup already and maybe the lads might do that and maybe City Of Troy could be a horse for the Classic. They like to play all their cards differently to suit their horses and at the same time they love watching racing and going racing, so they try to spread them out.”
Auguste Rodin was a notable absentee from the confirmations for Saturday's G1 Coral-Eclipse, as expected leaving the path clear for stable-mate City Of Troy as he tries to become the first Derby winner since Golden Horn (GB) in 2015 to follow up at Sandown. Instead, Auguste Rodin is likely to make his next appearance in the G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, July 27, despite having disappointed in the same race in 2023.
“I suppose the Eclipse did come under consideration, but the lads make the plans about what they would like to do with them,” O'Brien said of the decision to miss Sandown with the four-year-old.
“Auguste Rodin won over a mile and a half last year and is an older horse. He's had three runs now and two runs before Ascot. Ascot was his first big-race target of the year we felt and there was always the possibility that if it did go well we would go back to Ascot for the King George.”
Del Mar Could be City Of Troy's First Taste of Dirt
O'Brien also nominated the likeliest targets for City Of Troy during the second half of the season, with prestigious middle-distance races at York and Leopardstown among the options on the table for his next race should everything go to plan at Sandown.
“I suppose the leap after this race would have to be either the Juddmonte International [at York on Wednesday, August 21] or the Irish Champion Stakes [at Leopardstown on Saturday, September 14],” said O'Brien. “I would imagine the lads would be looking at those races, without knowing or discussing what they are thinking.
“I would hope we keep him racing in this part of the world for as long as we can and I just feel he is going to be a very important horse to European pedigrees if we can keep him to this part of the world.”
On the prospect of City Of Troy lining up in the GI Breeders' Classic at Del Mar on Saturday, November 2, O'Brien added, “We've had horses just beaten in the Classic before, Declaration Of War and Giant's Causeway, and they never went over for a dirt race before that. We took them to Southwell for a gallop and I know the surface has changed there now, it's Tapeta and a bit different to Polytrack.
“I would hope if the Eclipse went well, it would be another race and if we decide to go to America then maybe we give him a day out at Southwell or something. None of that is written in stone what the lads are thinking, but that's what is going on in our heads at the minute.”
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