Rip Van Winkle to race in 2010, Mastercraftsman retired

DiscreetCatDiscreetCat Moderator
edited November 2009 in Horse Racing Forum
from Racing Post:

AIDAN O'BRIEN is looking forward to racing Rip Van Winkle and Fame And Glory next year after it was confirmed on Tuesday that two of Ballydoyle's top three-year-olds will stay in training for the 2010 season.

Mastercraftsman, however, has been retired after a career which yielded four Group 1 wins. He will stand at Coolmore Stud in Ireland.

As well as a pair of top-level successes as a two-year-old, Mastercraftsman won the Irish 2,000 Guineas and St James's Palace Stakes this year and finished only a length second to Sea The Stars in the Juddmonte International at York.

Fame And Glory's career highlight came when he landed the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh in June, having chased home Sea The Stars at Epsom. He failed to justify favouritism in the Emirates Airline Champion Stakes on his latest start when only sixth behind Twice Over at Newmarket.

Rip Van Winkle could only finish tenth in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic after starting the 2-1 favourite. He had previously registered two Group 1 wins in the BGC Sussex Stakes and Sony-sponsored QEII Stakes.

Another colt joining the four-year-old Ballydoyle team next term is the lightly-raced Age Of Aquarius. The winner of the Totesport.com Lingfield Derby Trial was last seen finished second to Cavalryman in the Group 1 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris in July.

"The plan is for Rip Van Winkle and Fame And Glory to stay in training next year. Age Of Aquarius will also race next year, so we're all looking forward to it," O'Brien said.

Comments

  • InTheFogInTheFog Senior Member
    edited November 2009
    With the trouble with RV Winkles feet they might be better off letting him go back to sleep.
  • DiscreetCatDiscreetCat Moderator
    edited November 2009
    I wonder how much (if any) his feet affected his performance on Saturday. Obviously there was some type of problem, but it could've been the surface as well. Impossible to say. The sad part was, he was in perfect position and then just stopped cold. Absolutely no excuse, trip-wise anyway.
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