O'Brien Sweeps to Victory in Dewhurst Stakes

U S Navy Flag flew home in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (G1) at Newmarket Oct. 14, leading trainer Aidan O'Brien's four starters to a 1-2-3-4 finish and moving the Irish conditioner to within one of the late Bobby Frankel's record of 25 top-level winners in a calendar year.

Into the bargain, the Dewhurst is a key pointer to the following season's QIPCO Two Thousand Guineas and U S Navy Flag, a War Front  colt out of the Galileo mare Misty For Me, immediately moved front and center for that classic.

U S Navy Flag, a full brother to multiple group 1-winning 3-year-old filly Roly Poly, was prominent from the start and finished the seven furlongs in 1:22.37 over good going, a course record for a 2-year-old on a day when records were established in three of the first four races.

Trailing him home were Mendelssohn, Seahenge, and Threeandfourpence. All four are American-bred. Mendelssohn and Seahenge are by the late Scat Daddy and Threeandfourpence is by War Front.

U S Navy Flag completed a double of the Dewhurst and the six-furlong Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes (G1) Sept. 30.

"I suppose we're lucky to have a colt who has pace enough for six and it looks as though (he has) a good chance of getting a mile," O'Brien said.

Asked what's next, O'Brien nodded without particular enthusiasm to the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T).

"He (could go to) America, but I don't know. We'll see how he is. He's certainly very happy with what he's doing," he said.

The disappointment of the race was Expert Eye, a Juddmonte Farms homebred colt by Acclamation (GB), who went to the post an odds-on favorite, pulled hard through the early furlongs and faded to finish last of nine—his first defeat in three races.

"It was just very disappointing," trainer Sir Michael Stoute said of Expert Eye's performance. "He was a little keen early on but, even so, it was disappointing. That's not him."

O'Brien's chase after Frankel's record hit a few jarring bumps in the hours before U S Navy Flag delivered the goods. His antepost favorite for the Oct. 13 bet385 Fillies' Mile (G1) at Newmarket, Happily, was scratched and then September missed by the narrowest of noses catching pacesetter Laurens for the win. And hours before the Dewhurst and well across the world, O'Brien-trained Johannes Vermeer came up just a head short of catching Gailo Chop in the Ladbrokes Stakes (G1) at Caulfield in Australia.

As he has throughout recent weeks, O'Brien soft-peddled the chase.

"It would be massive for everyone, but we don't think about it as a long-term thing," he said. "We take every horse and each race at a time, but it would be a massive achievement for everybody."