Gleneagles to Try for Guineas Double

Trainer Aidan O'Brien will bid for a 10th victory in the Tattersalls Irish Two Thousand Guineas (Ire-I) with a trio of runners that includes QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-I) winner and pre-race favorite Gleneagles.

 

Overall, 11 colts are entered for the one-mile race Saturday at the Curragh racecourse in Ireland. 

 

Gleneagles captured the English Guineas in handy fashion by 2 1/4 lengths May 2 at Newmarket, with Territories second and Ivawood third, the latter reopposing in the Irish Guineas. 

 

The Galileo colt has five wins and a third from seven career starts. He crossed the finish line first in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere (Fr-I) last October at Longchamp before he was disqualified to third for interference.

 

Seven horses have previously completed the English/Irish Guineas double:  Right Tack (1969), Don't Forget Me (1987), Tirol (1990), Rodrigo De Triano 1992), Rock of Gibraltar (2002), Cockney Rebel (2007), and Henrythenavigator (2008). O'Brien trained Rock of Gibraltar and Henrythenavigator.

 

He also will send out with Smuggler's Cove, third to Belardo in the 2014 Darley Dewhurst (Eng-I), and maiden winner The Warrior, who is stakes-placed.  

 

Trainer Richard Hannon, whose father won the Irish Guineas three times, saddles Lexington Times in addition to Ivawood. 

 

"The odds are stacked against us, but we think Ivawood has improved again since the Guineas, and, though we are not claiming we will beat Gleneagles, who looked a proper horse at Newmarket, we have always loved our fellow and he'll be giving his all to gain revenge," Hannon said on his website.

 

A spoiler could be Belardo, who stamped himself a candidate for this year's classics when he won the Dewhurst by two lengths last October at Newmarket. In his first start this season, however, he was a non-threatening eighth in the AON Greenham Stakes (Eng-III) on fast ground April 18 at Newbury and bypassed the English Guineas because of the quick footing. Ground conditions at the Curragh were yielding earlier this week, but dry weather was forecast for the rest of the week. 

 

"You have to keep faith in these horses and you can't write them off after one run, especially as the ground was very quick at Newbury and he just never let himself down," trainer Roger Varian said told England's Press Association.

 

"He didn't have a hard race, he's a fresh horse. His work had been excellent leading up to that race and excellent since.

 

Convergence and Endless Drama will represent trainer Ger Lyons, who is looking for his first Irish classic win. The field is completed by Dermot Weld's Tombelain, Kevin Prendergast's Mohaayed, and Pat Shanahan-trained Carbon Dating.

 

A field of 18 has been declared this morning for Sunday's Tattersalls Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-I), headed by the French group I-winner Found as O'Brien looks to win the race for the second straight year.