Scandinavia cemented his status as the king of the staying division with a hard-fought victory in the Comer Group International Irish St. Leger.
Winner of the St Leger at Doncaster on this weekend 12 months ago, the Justify colt had continued his progress by winning each of his previous four starts this season including the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot in June and his second Goodwood Cup the following month.
The four-year-old was 4/11 favourite to extend his overall winning sequence to eight in the Irish Flat season’s final Classic and while his stablemate Queenstown proved a tough nut to crack on the front end, Scandinavia eventually wore him down and was ultimately well on top as he passed the post two lengths to the good.
O’Brien, who enjoyed a 1-2-3 as Jan Brueghel made late gains to pick up the bronze medal, said of Scandinavia: “He’s a great horse. He just has an unbelievable amount of stamina. He’s a big, high cruiser and we were delighted to have Queenstown there today to keep going along.
“He (Scandinavia) just goes along there and he really only kicks in after a mile-and-six, which is very unusual. He was trained for Ascot for the Gold Cup and then to do these other things. The ground is probably as soft as he wants it, he’s a very good mover as well. Ryan (Moore) gave him a great ride.”
When asked whether the Prix du Cadran at ParisLongchamp could be next, the trainer: “It’s possible. When Ryan came in there he said ‘what about the Cadran for the second horse, to give him a chance’.
“The third horse could go to Ascot for the two-mile race (Long Distance Cup) and then we could put him (Scandinavia) away for Ascot next year.
“You could go to France and the ground could be very bad for him. I don’t want to abuse him either because he’s a made Gold Cup horse. He floats on the fast ground.”
O’Brien appeared particularly pleased with the performance of Jan Brueghel, which had been off the track since Royal Ascot.
“We thought he’d get very tired. He was sick enough and he was off for a good while,” he said. “He was just about ready to start today but we knew if he was going to go to Ascot he had to start today.
“He does stay very well and he’s a classy horse and handles an ease in the ground. You’d have to be delighted with him.”
The Ballydoyle supremo also revealed his operation has been battling a low-grade infection for over two months, after voicing concern following a number of below-par performances this weekend.
After seeing both Derby hero Christmas Day and Pierre Bonnard fail to fire in the St Leger at Doncaster on Saturday, and Constitution River beaten into third in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown, O’Brien spoke about the health of his string.
“There is a low-grade infection running through our horses for the last two months, (maybe) a little bit more. It would pop up in their bloods and an odd one would have a funny scope and then it would disappear without being treated,” he said.
“It was with them all, through the whole place. We blood them and scope them and if all that is right, and everyone is happy, we let them run. But sometimes you don’t know until they travel.”
O’Brien was inclined to blame the infection for the performances of Derby winner Christmas Day, which trailed in ninth in the St Leger, and Pierre Bonnard, which was only sixth behind the Saffie Osborne-ridden Highwayman, trained by son Joseph.