Auguste Rodin gave trainer Aidan O’Brien his 400th Group or Grade One triumph on the Flat with a barnstorming victory in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The colt has earned his reputation as the best all-or-nothing horse in the world by either winning handsomely or trailing in last but on Wednesday he was at his magnificent best with Ryan Moore on board.
The resume already includes the Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders Cup, and the horse has become the first Epsom Derby winner to return to Royal Ascot the following year and triumph since Royal Palace in 1968.
Wednesday was the perfect set-up for him. Having tracked Snobbish and Hans Andersen, he hit the front to beat the French pair Zarakem and Horizon Dore by three quarters of a length and a length.
The greatest thing about O’Brien is his humility; he deflects the praise to his staff when they win, shoulders all the blame when they lose; 400 Group Ones? Down to others. Auguste Rodin’s horror shows? The trainer’s fault.
“Auguste Rodin is a very special horse,” O’Brien said. “I was probably giving instructions wrong all along, we were riding him too far back and if there was no pace in the race, he was too far out of the race
“So we changed everything. Ryan said he was going to ride him positive, engage him straight away – he’ll get up there and cruise off any pace. He is very straightforward.
“I feel the blips were my fault, the instructions were wrong, and it took us until now to start getting it right. We saw today that when he gets to the front, he waits, and then he goes again, and that’s what makes him very good. He has a personality, and good horses, they have to develop a personality to become good. And he has everything.”
Some of the biggest players joined Coolmore in getting a Royal Ascot return on their investment on Wednesday including the Qatari royal brothers, the Emir’s Wathnan Racing and Sheikh Joaan’s Al Shaqab.
The infant Wathnan has probably spent something north of £25 million in the last year getting a chair at racing’s top table. To the almost audible sighs of relief of bloodstock agents, it got off the mark for the week in the Queen Mary with Leovanni, one of its cheaper acquisitions at £180,000.
Talking about the importance of Wathan’s win, racing manager Richard Brown explained: “No amount of investment guarantees success in any sport, particularly ours. There were 27 lining up against us and, together, they cost an enormous amount of money. She cost a lot but in the big scheme, it’s not what some would have cost.
“But, yes, it’s a really important moment. Whether it is Wathnan or whoever, it is our job to make this interesting and for people to come and be involved in this amazing sport. For any new player to come in to our game is tremendous and show the scale of the ambition they have shown, so far, is great to have.”
They no doubt get a huge buzz out of winning but they are restrained, no doubt befitting royalty, in showing it. The complete antidote to that is David Howden who might, at the very least, need a throat lozenge for breakfast on Thursday. He was undiluted 40 per cent proof enthusiasm after Running Lion had made all to win the Duke of Cambridge to give him a first Ascot, where his insurance company is a partner, let alone Royal Ascot winner.
She is not Auguste Rodin’s league for not turning up but she had been last at Epsom on her previous start.
“You can imagine, there I am at Epsom watching,” recalled Howden.. “Off they go and I went, ‘Where’s my filly?’ She’d backed out. That’s about as low as it gets. Today is as high as it gets. I love the game. You’ve got to love it to be in it. There’s not a lot of sanity in this game. There are a lot of dreams and madness in following it so to deliver this is just fantastic.”