Auguste Rodin Heads Field for Vertem Futurity

Sir Henry Cecil and Aidan O'Brien are locked together with ten wins each in the Vertem Futurity Trophy (G1), but victory for Auguste Rodin  in this year's race can put O'Brien out on his own.

The Ballydoyle trainer's winners have an equal split of profiles, with five scoring in maidens and five proven group performers. This year, Auguste Rodin lines up after victory in the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes (G2).

Saxon Warrior  (2017) and Luxembourg  (2021) were the last two O'Brien-trained winners who came into the Oct. 22 race as group 2 winners. However, they had won the Beresford Stakes (G2) en route and Auguste Rodin's group success came on Irish Champions Weekend at Leopardstown.

The races might hold the same group status, but the Beresford is usually stronger than the Leopardstown event and we can see that by comparing Racing Post Ratings. Saxon Warrior got 112 for his Beresford win and Luxembourg 113, while Auguste Rodin has an RPR of just 110.

That's the same rating Epictetus  achieved in finishing second in the Emirates Autumn Stakes (G3) at Newmarket two weeks ago, although the Gosden performer is 2lb superior on official ratings. He was probably done only for a lack of experience behind Silver Knott  and that was also his first run after 92 days off following his debut.

Epictetus, like Auguste Rodin, holds a Cazoo Derby (G1) entry, but this race has been a better guide to the QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas (G1) in recent seasons. The last winner to go on and complete the double with the Derby was Camelot  in 2011 and he won only a maiden before scoring in this.

This race threw up the winner of the Guineas for three years in a row, with Saxon Warrior (2017), Magna Grecia  (2018) and Kameko  (2019) all going on to be successful at Newmarket, while last year's winner Luxembourg finished third in this season's first Classic.

O'Brien trained Saxon Warrior and Magna Grecia, but Andrew Balding was responsible for Kameko and he also had Elm Park  win this race in 2014. Balding saddles Stormbuster , who bolted up by five lengths in the historic Haynes, Hanson & Clark Conditions Stakes at Newbury last month.

Stormbuster is bred to be good as his dam is group 2 scorer Barshiba  and he is a brother to Juddmonte International Stakes (G1) winner Arabian Queen . If there is a fly in the ointment, it might be Stormbuster.

It is now or never though for O'Brien, who has one last chance to avoid his worst season in Britain's top races for ten years.

More often than not he is the man to beat in British group 1 contests and he won no fewer than 16 of them in 2017, when he was crowned champion trainer on both sides of the Irish Sea.

That total has dwindled to just four this season, courtesy of Tuesday , Blackbeard , and Kyprios  (twice), matching his return from 2012.

But there is one left in Auguste Rodin.

O'Brien is wary of the testing ground conditions at Doncaster but said: "The plan at the moment is for Auguste Rodin to run. We always like to run if we can.

"It's obviously not ideal that so much rain has hit Doncaster and we were hoping for better ground as he is such a good-moving horse. But he's done well since Leopardstown and we think he's a classy colt."

The trainer also runs Navan maiden winner Salt Lake City and said: "He is a nice colt who won well at Navan on soft ground. We were delighted with him there and he seems to be progressing lovely."