Last Saturday, champion trainer John O’Brien turned the seven-race day two Arima Race Club (ARC) card into the John O’Brien Day of racing.
The top conditioner won four of the seven events including the day’s feature event, the Agostini Royal Colours Classic over 1,350 metres on the main track at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.
O’Brien continued his success of 2022 when he won the 2022 Trainer’s Championship which ended on Boxing Day (observed on December 27). On that day, he landed the two Graded events, the Edmund DeFreitas Gold Cup and the Bonanza Riding Stable St James/St Ann’s Stakes. He won the Gold Cup with the 9-1 shot Crown Prince and took the juvenile event with the impressive Hello World.
O’Brien did himself proud last Saturday when landing his four winners from seven races. He began in the second race with the Hugh Leong Poi-owned four-year-old Happy Bird which made every inch of the running to win easily under champion jockey Brian Boodramsing.
O’Brien came back in the next with newcomer In The Headlines to win the feature Royal Colours Classic easily. She could be in the shake-up for the ‘Triple Crown’ in 2023.
O’Brien said, “It is always good to win four races on a card and I am happy to have won the feature event with In The Headlines. She is a horse that I thought would run Hello World close in the St Ann’s/St James Stakes but she encountered a problem with her shins and had to be scratched. She was working well leading up to that race and she continued in preparation for this race and won impressively. I think she will have a say in the Classic races.”
He continued: “Happy Bird has long shown that she is talented and won well. She has her problems but should she stays sound, she will make her mark.”
The pair of O’Brien and Boodramsing struck again in the sixth event with the 2022 Gold Cup favourite, Soca Harmony, which was given a great ride by Boodramsing to win from the 2022 Gold Cup hero Crown Prince with the well-supported Gold Cup second, Just Exhale, third.
In the final race on the seven-race card, O’Brien was at his absolute best as Boodramsing rode a top-class race.
In the co-feature event, the Lester Moore-owned Soca Harmony won like a champion. She came widest of all and ran on strongest to take the prize from her Gold Cup conqueror Crown Prince.
“Both these horses are top-class horses and Soca Harmony proved best today. Crown Prince ran well and could return to winning ways soon.”
When asked about his final runner on that day’s card, O’Brien said, “I must thank Brian Boodramsing for tiding excellently today. He rode very well. This horse was well-ridden and won well. Princess Aruna had the field prisoners from 600 metres out. When she came into the straight it was clearly all over. However, stablemate Game Changer came with a strong run to snatch second and give connections something to cheer about at the cashier.”
O’Brien is on his way to winning his 23rd trainers’ championship in 2023. The manner in which things are going looks like he will make it without a problem.
