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Aidan O'Brien achieved his 4,000th success as a trainer today when Henry Longfellow won the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at the Curragh.
The seven-furlongs race is named after O'Brien's unrelated predecessor at Ballydoyle and is the top juvenile race for colts in Ireland.
In 1996, O'Brien won his first Group One success with Desert King in the same race. Today, O'Brien decided to withdraw City Of Tory due to rain-softened ground, leaving just four horses to run. Henry Longfellow, ridden by Ryan Moore, swept aside Cuban Thunder two furlongs out and beat Islandsinthestream by five lengths to claim victory, with Bucanero Fuerto finishing third.
O'Brien has been a prolific trainer since his first win with Wandering Thoughts at Tralee on June 7, 1993, and has won every flat championship since 1998. Henry Longfellow, who is out of Ballydoyle's top racemare Minding, has an exceptional pedigree according to O'Brien.
Henry Longfellow: The Unstoppable Force Of The Racing World
“He travels and he quickens and that is very difficult for other horses to handle.
“We knew this horse (Henry Longfellow) had run a couple of weeks ago and his mam handled the ground no problem. Everyone has been very happy with him and he looks a very special horse.
“His mam won over a mile, a mile and a quarter and a mile and a half.
“It’s very possible (that could be his last run this season) but we’ll see.”
He added “City Of Troy hadn’t run for a good while and was going to improve from the run. Sometimes in that ground they can have a hard time. He would die on his feet for you today and we didn’t want to do that to him once the ground turned.
“I had said to the lads that we wouldn’t run City Of Troy on soft ground. We took a chance in Newmarket and got away with it. He’s too beautiful a mover. Ryan was adamant that it was closer to soft than good to yielding.”
Jockey Moore added “he is a very impressive horse and is obviously he is out of Minding and she was a very special filly. This fellow is getting better, the pace was string and I didn't want to let Bucanero Fuerto off I thought he was very impressive.
“He can be a bit idle but he is a very good horse.”