OTHER SPORT

O'BRIEN TO RUN EIGHT IN DERBY

O'BRIEN: Epsom domination

Thursday May 31,2007

By Rolf Johnson The Scout

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LAST year he was four-handed and touched off with Dylan Thomas – on Saturday Aidan O’Brien will create a record for any Classic when he saddles eight runners in the Vodafone Derby.

All his Tuesday declarations, all racing for the Magnier-Tabor-Smith triumvirate, have been jocked up – and that’s without the availability of their number one, Kieren Fallon.

Mick Kinane who rode Galileo to victory for O’Brien in 2001 is on board Archipenko, and Johnny Murtagh, who
partnered the Ballydoyle stable’s other Derby victor High Chaparral the following year, rides Eagle Mountain.

Six other top jockeys in Ireland have been called up including the current Irish champion Declan McDonogh for Anton Chekov.

O’Brien has been cleaning up in the trials but it was thought he would prune his final squad.

The whole complexion of the race has been changed and immediately there was talk of ‘team tactics’.

On the day McClaren were cleared of similar accusations regarding last Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix, surely Ballydoyle don’t intend ‘mugging’ the Blue Riband of the Turf?

Ballydoyle’s action suggests it’s getting personal.

Sheikh Mohammed has declared a boycott on all matters pertaining to the Ballydoyle-Coolmore operation.

Last September, there was furore at Ascot when O’Brien accused Frankie Dettori of throwing his toys out of the pram as Ballydoyle’s George Washington’s stable companion Ivan Denisovich denied Godolphin’s Librettist a clear run on the home turn.

Two years, ago Dettori rode Scorpion to win the St Leger for O’Brien. The Sheikh, Dettori’s employer, forbade the jockey from riding for them ever again.

This year the Godolphin boss gave his approval for Dettori to ride the favourite Authorized for Peter Chapple-Hyam.
At the back of his mind may have been the thought that Dettori and Chapple-Hyam would be a combination to repulse the Irish – that was when the thinking was that the latter might field four, at most.

The situation may bring the best out of Dettori, who is like a pent up volcano.

He knows only too well, after his Dante triumph on Authorized, that this is his best chance – perhaps ever - to win the race he craves, after 13 defeats.

When asked his views, last night, about O’Brien’s block entry of eight, Chapple-Hyam, who has been trying to keep Dettori calm, said: “I will work it out.”