Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear give O’Brien very strong Guineas hand

PA Sport Reporters
May 5, 2023 2:57 pm

But Ballydoyle pair carrying different questions on trip in first Classic of the season.

Aidan O’Brien acknowledges it is “possible” the mile of the Qipco 2000 Guineas will be too short for hot favourite Auguste Rodin.

O’Brien is also represented in the opening Classic of the season by Little Big Bear, who is second-favourite, as the Ballydoyle maestro bids to add to his record 10 victories in the Newmarket showpiece.

The 53-year-old last won the prize in 2019 with Magna Grecia and has never had more than four successive years without a victory in the race since he first struck with King Of Kings in 1998.

Hugely impressive from the Derby favourite for @coolmorestud. Auguste Rodin a ready winner pic.twitter.com/SeOtvQrwol
— Nick Robson (@ValueRacingPlus) October 22, 2022

Auguste Rodin is considered a Triple Crown contender, with the Derby and the St Leger on the radar. He won his previous three starts, including the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster in October.

Like Little Big Bear, winner of the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, he will make his seasonal bow.

However, there are trip questions for both horses, with Little Big Bear untested beyond six and a half furlongs and Ryan Moore’s mount, Auguste Rodin, potentially finding a mile too sharp.

“It is possible that the mile will be too short for him,” admitted O’Brien. “We don’t know really. We are happy with what he has done and what he is doing at the moment.

“He is a horse who has loads of class. We are going to learn a lot about him and he’s going to learn a lot. We are looking forward to him.

“He’s a horse who has always shown plenty of class in all his work from very early on. Ryan sat on him in February or March as a two-year-old and he loved him then. He was showing loads then and it is usually a good sign.

Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien bid for more glory at Newmarket on Saturday — Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien bid for more glory at Newmarket on Saturday (Nigel French/PA)

“I suppose we had to see what his work was like and if anyone wasn’t happy at any step along the road, then he might not have run in the Guineas. But everything is good.”

O’Brien has no qualms about the pair taking each other on, as it is a tried and tested formula for Coolmore-owned horses in the Classic.

He is also not ruling out the possibility of a repeat of 2002, where Rock Of Gibraltar upset stablemate and favourite Hawk Wing when the pair finished first and second.

“We are lucky. So far, they have come through the winter well and they have taken their training well in the spring up until now,” O’Brien added.

“It was always a possibility it (a clash) was going to happen. They have two different profiles. Obviously they will probably go their separate ways after this race.

“I suppose Auguste Rodin will probably move up in trip, definitely.

Little Big Bear tries a mile for the first time in the colts' Classic — Little Big Bear tries a mile for the first time in the colts’ Classic (Lorraine O’Sullivan/PA)

“I would imagine it will tell us a lot about Little Big Bear, whether he is going to stay a mile or go back. It is going to be very interesting and informative for us.”

Given the ground was very soft on his last run, any rain would appear to enhance Auguste Rodin’s chance. Yet O’Brien feels the son of Deep Impact will appreciate quicker conditions than when trouncing subsequent Epsom Blue Riband Trial winner Epictetus by three and a half lengths on Town Moor.

“We were a little bit surprised by Auguste Rodin at Doncaster,” he conceded. “We were a little bit worried about running him in that type of ground – the ground got soft that day and he is a beautiful-moving horse and definitely not a soft-ground horse. That’s why we were delighted.”

Asked if he could split Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear if they turned up on top form, O’Brien said: “Auguste Rodin is going to get the trip – we’ve seen that before. Little Big Bear hasn’t run near this distance at all and obviously two furlongs is a long way in a horse race. He’s only run over six (furlongs).

“If you put them together, you don’t know. Both of them are doing most of their work over seven furlongs and it looks lovely for both.

“Little Big Bear is getting home and he seems to be covering the last furlong well. We haven’t gone any further and obviously the other horse gallops through the line, which we expect him to be doing anyway. It is going to be a very interesting race, really.

“Little Big Bear is by No Nay Never, who is a big influence for speed. Joseph (O’Brien) won with a No Nay Never over a mile and a quarter in the week in a Group Two, so that’s been very encouraging to see at least that can happen.

“Until you see it, you are never sure. He’s out of a mare that it could happen, but he is by No Nay Never and he is a quick horse.”

Moore, who is such a major cog in the Ballydoyle operation, seeks a third win, following success aboard the O’Brien-trained Gleneagles in 2015 and Churchill in 2017.

He sticks with Auguste Rodin, although concedes it would be no surprise to see Little Big Bear (Wayne Lordan) take the laurels.

“We have two very good horses in here, but two very different horses, and they will be going down very different paths after this race,” Moore reported on his Betfair blog.

“That was mightily impressive!”
An absolutely spectacular display from Little Big Bear 🐻 in the @keeneland Phoenix Stakes @curraghrace – with Bradsell only fourth@coolmorestud | @Ballydoyle pic.twitter.com/43xQdmXjqJ
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 6, 2022

“I’ll start with Little Big Bear. After what he did in the Phoenix Stakes at two – that was quite a stunning win – he deserves to run in this Classic rather than in Ireland or France, as Newmarket will tell us a lot more about him and where he will be heading afterwards.

“He clearly has a lot of pace but I personally think he will stay a mile, and that makes him a very dangerous rival to all, including my mount Auguste Rodin.

“We haven’t seen Little Big Bear since that Curragh win in August but he has been going well.

“There are no stamina concerns with Auguste Rodin obviously, and he will probably be heading up in trip after this, and he is a horse we have always loved from day one as a juvenile and he fulfilled those expectations with his Doncaster win.

“He is an exciting prospect for the season, but hopefully for the here and now, too. But would it surprise me if Little Big Bear beat him? Not really.

“They are the two best horses in here and the others have to reach, and maybe surpass, their current level, and hopefully they are drawn in the right place in 12 and 13.”