Henri Matisse produces picture perfect performance as O’Brien equals record
Aidan O’Brien joined D Wayne Lukas as the winningmost trainer in Breeders’ Cup history when Henri Matisse (Wootton Bassett) got up late under a picture perfect Ryan Moore ride to land the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (Gr 1, 8f) at Del Mar on Friday.
Coming from deep in the 12-runner field, the colt stayed on well to beat Iron Man Cal (Collected) by a neck with Aomori City (Oasis Dream) a further half-length away in third, to provide O’Brien with his 20th Breeders’ Cup winner, seven of which have now come in the Juvenile Turf, including the last three runnings of the race.
“We all know what a special man Wayne is and it’s an honour to be anywhere close to his record,” O’Brien said. “What can you say about Wayne? He’s always such a help to us and he rang me during the week to tell me the way to ride this track.”
Twice a Group 2 winner at the Curragh, Henri Matisse went into Friday’s race having been beaten on both his starts since being upped to the highest level. Throughout the first half of this latest outing it looked very much like he may bring up an unwanted hat-trick, as he sat a long way off the leaders.
However, Moore was always confident of reeling in those in front of him, despite being forced to race wide out of the home bend and into the straight having made steady headway from three furlongs out.
“It was very easy today,” the jockey said after riding his 16th Breeders’ Cup winner. “He did it beautifully and we’ve been learning about him. The step up to a mile around a bend on nice ground helped him, but he just took figuring out a little bit.
“I said to Aidan beforehand I felt he was by far the best horse in the race. He just travelled into it and I was wide on the bend, but he took me there very comfortably. He won without even knowing he was in a race.”
The win by Henri Matisse capped a memorable few weeks for his stallion, Coolmore shuttler Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj), who has now sired four individual elite-level winners this year, an achievement the winning rider was quick to acknowledge.
“It has been incredible what the stallion has done over the last two months, really incredible,” he said. “Everyone does an amazing job back at home, back at the stud, even to get these horses here. I have to just not mess it up.”
If the win on Henri Matisse appeared unlikely when he sat towards the back of the field in the Juvenile Turf, stablemate Lake Victoria (2 f Frankel – Quiet Reflection by Showcasing) looked to have a near–on impossible task of extending her unbeaten record to five when she was slammed against the running rail early on in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (Gr 1, 8f).
But having already conquered all in Europe, the daughter of Frankel (Galileo) capped her perfect year with a stunning victory, keeping on strongly under Moore to beat May Day Ready (Tapit) by a length and a half, with Nitrogen (Medaglia D’Oro) another length away in third.
“Ryan gave her an incredible ride,” said O’Brien. “He said everyone wanted to go and he was down on the rail and he just got wiped out from the pressure coming from the outside. In a Group 1 if that happens to you it is usually over.
“But he kept patient and he kept very calm and he didn’t panic on her, he let her keep herself together and then he manoeuvred his way through and he said he took her wide into the straight so if anybody was going to come after her they were going to have to come out after her. It was an incredible ride and she is an incredible filly.”
Asked whether Lake Victoria, who has now won three times at the highest level following her earlier successes in the Moyglare Stud Stakes (Gr 1, 7f) and the Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr 1, 6f) is the best juvenile filly he has ever trained, O’Brien replied: “I would say that. I can’t remember a better one. Five runs, a maiden, a Group race and three Group 1s in a row at six [furlongs], seven [furlongs] and a mile, it is incredible really.”
Out of the dual Group 1 winner Quiet Reflection (Showcasing), Lake Victoria sits at the top of the betting for next year’s English 1,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1m) and MV Magnier, representing the winning owners, said that the Classic would now be very much on the filly’s agenda, while echoing O’Brien’s sentiments regarding her achievements so far.
“She is a special filly,” he said. “What Aidan did to get her to the Moyglare and then back to the Chevely Park was pretty special and then to get her back to a mile here, it is a great credit to him. It is fantastic.”