Keep looking Joe. We are too.
One thing that seems to have flown under the radar on Saturday is the appalling performances of the trio of Joseph O’Brien runners.
His three runners weren’t bad, they were awful.
Baron Samedi had great staying form in Europe and in the USA.
He had won the Vintage Crop beating Melbourne Cup winner Master of Reality, a Group 2 two at Belmont Park in America, and another top Group 2 at Longchamp in France. In addition to that he’d run 3rd in an Irish St Leger, 6th in the Long Distance Champions at Royal Ascot behind the super stayers Trueshan and Stradivarius, and 3rd in another Vintage Crop.
The Baron’s wet form was outstanding, with 3 wins and 2nd from 5 starts on the heavy, and O’Brien has beaten the handicapper and snuck him into the Sydney Cup with 55kg, about 2 kg under his right weight.
He ran last beaten 80 lengths.
Cleveland had a different form line.
It was an up and comer through the grades at home who had beaten the real good stayer Coltrane in the Chester Cup and run 2nd in the prestigious Ballyroan Cup at Leopardstown behind fellow visitor to Sydney Gear Up, whose connections rated good enough to run on Saturday in the $5 million WFA feature the Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He’d run 2nd at his Aussie debut in the Tancred Stakes, beaten just 2 lengths, and his heavy track form was 1 from 2. O’Brien had slipped him in even lighter with just 51kg.
He ran 3rd last beaten 30 lengths.
Joseph O’Brien’s other runner on the card was Statement in the Group 1 Queen of The Turf Stakes.
This mare at home had run 2nd to the quadruple G1 winner Alcohol Free in a Group 3 at Newbury, 3rd in a G3 at Epsom Downs, 4th to the super mare Bashkirova in a G3 at the same track, then won the Listed Navigation Stakes at Cork and the Group 2 Concord Stakes at Tipperary, b0th wins coming on wet tracks. Her heavy track form was 1 from 1.
She ran 3rd last beaten 16 lengths.
Cleveland bled.
Baron Samedi pulled up lame.
Who knows what happened to Statement.
All this came of course on top of O’Brien’s galloper Temple of Artemis breaking down and having to be destroyed in a race at Warwick Farm just the week before.
What the hell is going on?
What are Joseph O’Brien and his old man Aiden using at home and in the States that they can’t use here?
Why won’t Sydney apply the same stringent soundness tests to the foreign raiders that Melbourne do?
Questions, questions everywhere.
And not an answer to drink.