Aidan O'Brien's best chance of winning a second Qatar Prix du Jockey Club on Sunday at Chantilly is Diego Velazquez.
The Frankel colt, who had impressed in his first two juvenile runs, was let down on his final outing at two in the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster. However, his trainer is pleased to have 'put a line through' that race, claiming he was furious with his unruly stablemate Battle Cry, who was eventually withdrawn.
The Ballydoyle handler, who broke his French Derby duck with St Mark's Basilica in 2021, feels that Diego Velazquez is better suited for this weekend's second French Classic attempt after his comeback run at Paris Longchamp, where he was defeated by a length to finish fourth in the French 2000 Guineas.
“That’s what we thought, our other horse got upset. He had to be taken out and obviously Diego was left in the race, and he got upset as well,” O’Brien said of his Doncaster effort in a France Galop media call on Tuesday. “We just felt that being left in the stalls, we should have probably withdrawn him. The ground was very soft as well that day. We kind of put a line through it. We were very happy with the run in the French Guineas. We always thought he would run a very nice race and we always thought the step up to a mile and a quarter would suit him well. We were delighted to go to Longchamp because it is obviously right-handed like Chantilly. We felt these two races would suit him well and we were very happy with the way he came out of the French Guineas and happy with everything he has done since.”
Before his most recent major race test at Chantilly, O'Brien is hoping that there won't be too much rain, since Diego Velazquez struggled to find his groove in the mud at Doncaster.