Great moment for O'Brien family
There is no doubt that 2011 flat season so far has had all the hallmarks of being a classic one and the Irish 2000 Guineas will probably not rank that highly in the grand scheme of things when the season is assessed as a whole but it may be the race that the O'Brien family remember more than most.
Much of the comment in the race will be based around the ride that was given to Dubawi Gold, and even his jockey Richard Hughes in typically self-effacing style only gave himself six-out-of-ten for the ride, many analysts and punters would have given him less. But away from that "incident" the story of the race was of another Classic success for Aidan O'Brien, now that may seem unremarkable given that O'Brien has had multiple big race and Classic success over the past decade. But this one must have been special with the winner Roderic O'Connor being ridden by his son Joseph and those looking at the horse racing betting tips will understand this.
The horse who had been working impressively before being eclipsed like many were behind Frankel in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket gave a fine front-running display and was kept beautifully balanced by the young O'Brien, two days before his 18th birthday. That broke a spell of 50 years since the last father-son Classic triumph in Ireland and as Joseph is a tall lad it is unlikely that he will be a jockey forever. Those following the racing betting will know he is likely to move on to other things.
The win must have given all of the O'Brien family enormous pleasure and at times the Coolmore operation can be accused of being over-commercial, not on this occasion though and the team deserve plenty of credit for keeping faith with the trainer's son. A case when the heart ruling the head paid dividends.
The future for Joseph O'Brien may well be as the natural successor to his father but they will both remember the afternoon when they teamed up for a Classic winner with Roderic O'Connor.
