NEWS
Fame And Glory sets record for O’Brien in Irish Derby
Posted: Sunday, June 28, 2009 4:20 PM
FAME AND GLORY
Edward Whitaker/Racing Post photo
by Myra Lewyn
Fame And Glory wore down stablemate Golden Sword and shook clear to a five-length triumph in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby (Ire-G1) on Sunday at the Curragh, providing trainer Aidan O’Brien with a record-setting seventh victory in the classic.
The race lost its headliner when Sea The Stars, the first horse in two decades to win the opening two legs of the English Triple Crown, was scratched on Saturday due to expected less than ideal, soft course conditions.
Fame And Glory, runner-up to Sea The Stars in the Investec Epsom Derby (Eng-G1) on June 6, inherited favoritism and did not disappoint under Johnny Murtagh, who piloted him from well off the pace to a rousing victory at 8-to-11 odds under a hand ride.
Fame And Glory covered 1½ miles in 2:30.87 on a course rated as yielding.
“It was a good, solid gallop all the way,” Murtagh told England’s Press Association after earning his third victory in the race. “He relaxed very well. It was hands and heels, a very easy win.
“He improved quite a bit from Epsom, and I don’t care what turned up today, he would have been hard to beat. He has improved mentally and is much sharper and on the ball.”
Fame And Glory was one of six entrants in the 11-horse field for O’Brien, and Murtagh settled the Montjeu (Ire) colt in fifth as stablemate Rockhampton opened a clear lead and set a sizzling pace. Rockhampton flattened out entering the straight, and Murtagh had Fame And Glory perfectly positioned in third as stablemate Golden Sword seized the lead with less than a quarter-mile remaining.
Fame And Glory willingly responded on cue in the straight, easily dispatched Golden Sword with a little more than a furlong to run, and drove clear to his third victory in four starts this season.
Golden Sword held on to finish second, one length clear of third-place finisher Mourayan, Sea The Stars’s stablemate.
Fame And Glory posted clear wins in group stakes at Leopardstown in his first two starts this season prior to his runner-up finish at Epsom. Winner of the Criterium de Saint-Cloud (Fr-G1) as a two-year-old, Fame And Glory improved his overall record to five wins in six career starts.
Entering the race, O’Brien was tied with six Irish Derby winners with his predecessor at Ballydoyle, the legendary Vincent O’Brien, who died early this month at age 92. He tallied his fourth consecutive victory in the race, following wins by Frozen Fire in 2008, Soldier of Fortune (Ire) in ’07, and Dylan Thomas (Ire) in ’06. He also won with Galileo (Ire) in 2001, High Chaparral (Ire) in ’02, and Desert King in ’97.
Vincent O’Brien landed the Irish Derby with Charmier in 1953, *Ballymoss in ’57, Nijinsky II in ’70, The Minstrel in ’77, El Gran Senor in ’84, and Law Society in ’85.
Fame And Glory is campaigned by Vincent O’Brien’s daughter, Susan Magnier, and partners Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.
“All these bloodlines were instigated by Vincent,” John Magnier, owner of Ballydoyle’s principal client, Coolmore, told Times Online while reflecting on Vincent O’Brien’s legacy. “He set up Ballydoyle and Aidan has continued it. Vincent would be very proud.”
Bred in Great Britain by Ptarmigan Bloodstock and Kristen Rausing, Fame And Glory is out of the Shirley Heights mare Gryada. He was a $382,122 weanling purchase at the 2006 Tattersalls December foal sale.
Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor
