Aidan O’Brien: the inside track on my leading Champions Day contenders

The Ballydoyle handler has revealed that his squad will be without Scandinavia and Diamond Necklace, but is still hopeful that he can take one step closer towards another British Champion Trainers’ title at the weekend. 

Speaking to www.coolmore.com, he explained: “I think all the horses are in a good place now. They’ve all been running very well, even the ones that have been beaten have been finishing very well. 

“Around Irish Champions weekend a lot of them were coughing, and we had five or six Group One seconds where they were getting to the last half-furlong and just fading a bit.” 

“We were going to run Gstaad in the Champion, but we’ve changed it now. We’re going to leave him at the mile. We think it might not be fair to him to run in the Champion Stakes first time out (at the trip) against older horses and such a seasoned bunch. 

“We think the mile at Ascot will suit him very well. We were very happy with all his runs over a mile and we think the track at Ascot is going to suit him very well. 

“Also we are going to run Hawk Mountain with him, maybe going back in trip might suit him. We’re happy with him also. 

“Ryan [Moore] will ride Gstaad with Colin Keane on Hawk Mountain.”  

“All of his runs over a mile and a quarter have been very good. 

“We think maybe the last day when he ran at Leopardstown all our horses were a little bit sick and we think that could have been a major contributing factor to his run. He’s very well since. 

“He’s obviously a very seasoned horse now, and he’s run against these horses before and beaten a few already. So I’m very happy with him. 

“We always thought he was a superstar, but when he ran at York he got caught up in a very fast pace, and then he got tired after Ryan got there [to the lead] a bit sooner than he would’ve wanted. 

“At Leopardstown he cantered going down past the two and didn't get the last half-furlong. But we think he’s a much improved horse since then so we are looking forward to Saturday. 

"We are thinking of running her by herself. She came out of the Arc very well – we just thought maybe the pace was a little bit messy, a little bit slow for her. 

“She’s in very good form and we are looking forward to seeing her before she retires at the end of this season. That’s the plan.” 

“We’re thinking of running two. Queenstown, who was third in the Cadran and ran a very good race. We feel he’d be very happy coming back to two miles. 

“And we’re going to run Amelia Earhart as well. She ran a very good race in the fillies’ race at Longchamp at a mile and six and we think two miles is going to suit her well. She’s a Camelot filly, a very good traveller, and we think she will get the trip. 

“We’re not going to run Scandinavia now. He came out of Arc weekend very well but we just felt with a view to next year and there’s a little bit of rain in the forecast, that we would probably leave him for the year and start his preparation early, like we always do, for the Ascot Gold Cup next year and then hopefully go from there.”  

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