World Pool Preview: O’Brien confident as Gstaad bids for Irish Guineas glory

Aidan O’Brien is expecting 2,000 Guineas runner-up Gstaad to relish the drying conditions when he attempts to make amends in the Irish equivalent at the Curragh on Saturday.

Gstaad is a red-hot 1-2 favourite to go one place better than at Newmarket, where he finished two and three-quarter lengths behind brilliant winner Bow Echo. 

The Starspangledbanner colt will face nine rivals in the Tattersall-sponsored Group One contest, but the line-up doesn’t include Bow Echo, who will instead head straight to Royal Ascot for the St James’s Palace Stakes, where it is expected he will once again lock horns with Gstaad. 

Speaking to Johnny Ward on the Irish Guineas World Pool Preview show on YouTube, O’Brien said: “He’s obviously a good mover. They are thinking the ground could be good, and it could be a little bit quicker on Sunday, and he’ll be very happy with that. He’s a very good-moving, low-moving horse.”

Whilst not stating explicitly, O’Brien also hinted that things might have worked out differently on the Rowley Mile had Gstaad had a bit more luck in the run.

He added: “We were very happy, obviously it was his first run back. Obviously he was drawn where he was drawn and really you couldn’t be any happier.

“The winner was very good on the day. He was in a position where he got a little bit more cover in the first half of the race than Ryan did but that’s the way they were drawn and that’s the way it was.

“They were a long way from each other at the finish but I think you have to be very happy, really.”

Despite only saddling one of the last nine winners of the Irish 2,000 Guineas (Paddington in 2023), O’Brien is the winning-most trainer of the first Irish Classic of the season, having been responsible for 12 winners since 1997.

Johnny Ward appears to share O’Brien’s confidence in Gstaad, saying that he “I don’t see any negatives here with Gstaad”. He also noted that the market leader was extremely well backed in the days leading up to the Newmarket race - suggesting significant stable confidence.

When it comes to a wager on Saturday’s big race, Ward is hoping the World Pool Exacta market can provide him with a chunky payout.

He explains: “Go Just Do It is a beautiful looking Kingman. He’s 50-1 with the bookies so that Exacta (behind Gstaad) is going to pay quite nicely.

“I tipped him in the Futurity last year when he ran a nice race without really finding a great deal for pressure behind Constitution River. In hindsight maybe he was running against a proper, proper horse that day.

“He’s a beautiful looker and he looked like he had progressed nicely when he just laughed at his rivals at Gowran, after which Joseph O’Brien said he would probably stick to seven with him, so he’s obviously happy to try the mile here.”