By Peter Moore at Goodwood Thursday 1st August 2024
Day three of the Goodwood Festival belonged to the dynamic partnership of Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore.
The pair bagged a treble, with the highlight of the afternoon, yet another superb ride from Moore on Opera Singer in the feature race of the day the Group 1 Qatar Nassau Stakes.
Moore rode the three-year-old with complete confidence after making all and battling away bravely in the closing stages to fend of the challenge of See The Fire.
Both jockey and trainer have never doubted that the filly would stay over a mile, so much so that Moore said after her victory in the Prix Marcel Boussac in October that he felt she was good enough to have a tilt at the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
“Ryan has so much confidence in her and it was a brilliant ride,” said O’Brien, before joking that there is more improvement to come from the jockey. “He’s 40 and I tell him Flat jockeys shouldn’t peak until they’re at least 45 – he’s still getting better.”
Thirty five minutes earlier, Moore steered the odds on favourite Jan Brueghel to victory in the John Pearce Racing Gordon Stakes.
The three-year-old took his unbeaten record to three wins after seeing off his other four challengers by showing guts and determination under Moore to get home by just a neck.
“He was very green,” said Moore, “I didn’t really want to make the running because he was a bit raw. Tom went on a bit and then we just got a bit detached and he lost interest and ran very green with me.
The victory prompted bookmakers to cut him to 6-1 and then into 7-2 with the sponsors for the Betfred St Leger over two and a half furlongs further at Doncaster on September 14.
The third leg of the treble was bought up when another tight finish saw Moore get the two-year-old filly Dreamy in front to win by a neck on debut.
It was proving to be a very good day for the Irish raiders when the Michael O’Callaghan trained Black Forza put in a later run to take the Markel Richmond Stakes.
English trainer Raf Beckett saddle the first two in the Jaeger-Lecoultre Nursery Handicap with Mr Chaplin taking the honours from Original Outlaw.