AIDAN O’BRIEN thinks Yeats has the class to compete in the top middle distance races.
The eight-year-old became the first horse in history to win four Gold Cups at Royal Ascot last week. And after his commanding success, connections have mooted the idea of dropping back in trip and competing in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot next month and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in the autumn.
Yeats is a Group One winner at 1m4f, winning the Coronation Cup and was also favourite for the Derby earlier in his career before injury ruled him out of Epsom.
And should he take his chance in either of the middle distance championship contests O’Brien feels he would be up to the task.
Yeats is a 14-1 chance with William Hill for the King George and 33-1 with the same firm for the Arc. His Ballydoyle handler said: “Obviously it’s up to the boss (part-owner John Magnier) but all the options are open to him and I suppose the first one that would be open to him is the King George.
“Then there is the Irish Leger, the Arc, the Prix du Cadran and all those races so we’ll just have to see what happens. After this weekend we’ll probably all sit down and have a good chat about it. If you go back and look at the way he travels through his races and when Johnny (Murtagh) says go, you see the way he accelerates. He was a very impressive winner of a Coronation Cup and at this time of year when he’s up into full speed he’s a very, very classy horse.”
O’Brien was unsure, though, whether Yeats would return for an attempt at a fifth Gold Cup win. He added: “It would be a real fairytale and a dream but I think maybe a time comes when enough is enough and you just have to be grateful.
“He is only flesh and blood and my biggest nightmare would be if we lost any of the genes that he is made of.
“If anything happened to him I think it would be a great loss to the thoroughbred industry, as if there was a horse going to stud who was going to be breed real classy horses, it would be this fellow.
“At the end of the day it won’t be my decision, but I’m really looking forward to the time when his foals arrive.”
Meanwhile Ballydoyle stable jockey Johnny Murtagh is hopeful Fame And Glory can turn the tables on Epsom conqueror Sea The Stars in Sunday’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh.
He said: Take nothing away from Sea The Stars as he was a very good winner on the day. The Epsom Derby winner doesn’t always win the Irish Derby, but they have a good record in it.
“I’m not going to give up on our horses yet as we’ve got two horses with massive chances in Fame And Glory and Masterofthehorse (third at Epsom) and they have definitely improved.
“I think the Curragh will suit them as it’s a big, galloping track and it will be a good test so hopefully we can put it up to Sea The Stars.”
TODAY’S NAP: Dubai’s Touch (3.30pm Newcastle).
Yesterday’s nap, Stevie Gee, won the 3.35pm at Carlisle at the rewarding odds of 20-1.
