Aidan O'Brien's bid to win all of the Irish classics this season was thwarted yesterday by his fellow Irish trainer, Jim Bolger, whose mercurial star, New Approach, added the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown to the Epsom Derby he had collected earlier in the year.
A rare disappointing day for the Ballydoyle stable was completed by the defeat of Henrythenavigator in the Prix du Moulin at Longchamp, while an exciting successful afternoon for Bolger was complemented by the win of Lush Lashes in the Matron Stakes.
An eventful weekend of Group 1 competition after the wash-out of Saturday was highlighted by the return to form of New Approach who had spoiled his chances of winning the Juddmonte International when pulling too hard and managing to finish only third to the O'Brien-trained Duke of Marmalade.
The latter was to have taken him on again at Leopardstown on Saturday but the meeting was rescheduled for yesterday and O'Brien withdrew his champion because of the heavy ground.
The Ballydoyle stable's King of Rome and Red Rock Canyon proved no match for the Bolger horse and, after taking the lead a couple of furlongs out, the 13-8 on winner comfortably held off the British outsider, 50-1 chance Traffic Guard, trained by Jane Chapple- Hyam, with another Irish contender, Mores Wells (8-1) seven lengths away third.
Bolger said: "On his previous run at Newmarket, he was a bit too keen because we had to rush a lot of quick work into him in a short space of time.
"There was not really enough pace today and, once again, we probably overdid the settling. He was only doing what he had to do and Kevin confirmed that he had bundles in the tank. It was a nice, easy race for him and he should come out of it well. He's in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket, he's in the Arc and he's also in the Breeders' Cup Classic. He'll probably run in two of those three."
Blue Square cut him from 8-1 to 7s for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, while VC Bet now go as short as 6-1 for the Longchamp race. Paddy Power were less impressed, however, and remained unchanged at 13-2 for the Arc. Stan James and William Hill pushed him out to 10s from 8s.
Lush Lashes had to use all her talent to get home in a thrilling finish in the Matron Stakes. The 9-4 favourite had to fend off strong challenges from Nahood and Halfway To Heaven in a clash of seriously good fillies. Mark Johnston's Nahoodh looked a little unlucky as jockey Mick Kinane had to wait for a gap on the rails to make his challenge, but the winner would still have been tough to catch.
The Bolger filly was adding yesterday's Group 1 to her impressive haul which includes successes in the Yorkshire Oaks and the Coronation Stakes.
O'Brien blamed the soft going at Longchamp for the defeat of Henrythenavigator as he finished fifth behind star French filly Goldikova, who beat off another top-class French filly, Darjina, with the Richard Hannon-trained colt, Paco Boy, third.
