Aidan O’Brien described the Irish-bred Twain as “special” as the son of Wootton Bassett shook up the Two Thousand Guineas market with victory in the Criterium International (G1) just eight days after his debut.
Little more than a week ago there will have been very few people outside Ballydoyle who had even heard of Twain but, after a commanding Leopardstown debut and a quick turnaround to win again at Saint-Cloud, he was made as short as 8-1 with one firm for the first classic of next season.
A six-length defeat of two well-regarded stablemates while everyone else was busy watching the action at Ascot on Champions Day led the Coolmore brains trust to supplement Twain for the Criterium International, and Ryan Moore sided with him even though he hadn’t been at Leopardstown when he made his debut.
“Anyone who saw him thought he was special,” said Aidan O’Brien. “We thought the second and third were decent horses and Twain quickened and left them. What he did was different.”
On heavy ground and against more talented opposition that he had trounced in the Prix Thomas Bryon, the sole French-trained challenge Maranoa Charlie failed to burn off his rivals from the front and it was Twain who swept by to take full advantage.
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On pitching Twain straight into group 1 company, O’Brien said: “It probably wasn’t fair to him, he only ran eight days ago.
“He’s always been highly rated and we ran him last week just in case what happened did happen, as we knew we had to give him a chance and there was only one group 1 left.
“He’s obviously a very good horse, but Ryan said he was very green. He said he jumped very smartly and then he went to sleep. He said he got there too early and was very green when he got there.”
Criterium de Saint-Cloud
On Saturday Hotazhell won his group 1 in the Futurity Trophy. Less than 24 hours later Tennessee Stud, the horse Hotazhell beat in the Beresford Stakes, followed suit to land the Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
It took the Joseph O’Brien-trained odds-on favorite a long time to finally get on top of Green Storm, who led from the start and was only just run out of it inside the final furlong. But it was a stamina-laden performance a race the Westerberg silks were also successful in last year with the Aidan O’Brien-trained Los Angeles.
LikeLos Angeles , next year’s target will be his first major objective. O’Brien said: “Dylan (Browne McMonagle) gave him a fantastic ride. He said he was really struggling on that ground and never felt comfortable at any stage. I think it’s quite heavy there. It’s testament to his attitude he was able to fight and fight and still win at the line.
“He’s very big and I expect him to be better as a three-year-old. He’ll have a break and will be trained now with the Derby at Epsom being his target. He could run in one or two trial races.”
For O’Brien, the son of record-breaking Irish trainer Aidan and Anne-Marie, there was an added family reason to enjoy the success. He added: “It’s very special to win a group 1 with a 2-year-old my mum bred—he goes back to Rock Of Gibraltar’s family—so that’s very special.”
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