Tag Archive for: Luxembourg

Luxembourg adds star touch to Curragh card

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Luxembourg is the star attraction at the Curragh on Monday as the dual Group One winner makes his seasonal reappearance in the Coolmore Stud Sottsass Irish EBF Mooresbridge Stakes.

Derby favourite after rounding off his juvenile campaign with a top-level triumph at Doncaster, the Camelot colt only enhanced his Epsom claims when third in last season’s 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

However, Aidan O’Brien’s charge did not make it to the premier Classic and was ultimately not seen in competitive action again until registering a workmanlike win in a Curragh Group Three in August.

O’Brien was adamant Luxembourg would improve significantly, though, and was once again proved spot-on as he saw off French raiders Onesto and Vadeni to secure Leopardstown’s Irish Champion Stakes, after which he got stuck in the mud in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Luxembourg had the option of returning to France for his four-year-old debut in Sunday’s Prix Ganay, but O’Brien has opted to start him off in calmer waters on home soil the following afternoon.

He said: “We just thought this looked an easier option at home rather than taking him to France.

“The ground doesn’t look too testing, hopefully it will be just nice ground for everyone.

“We’re happy with where he is, he’s ready to start back. He will come on plenty for it, I’d have thought, but he is ready to start.”

Luxembourg’s rivals include Joseph O’Brien’s Above The Curve, who struck Group One gold in the Prix Saint-Alary last season, and her stablemate Visualisation, who was best of the rest behind Point Lonsdale in the Alleged Stakes a fortnight ago.

Aidan’s youngest son Donnacha is represented by Piz Badile, who won last season’s Ballysax Stakes before filling the runner-up spot in the Irish Derby.

Willie McCreery saddles his star mare Insinuendo. The six-year-old secured her third Group-race success in the Park Express Stakes in late March and got within a neck of Luxembourg last summer.

Jessica Harrington’s Trevaunance and Noel Meade’s Layfayette complete the seven-runner field.

O’Brien: Luxembourg is exciting for next year

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Aidan O’Brien is confident Luxembourg will make his mark at the highest level again this season.

Unbeaten in three juvenile starts in 2021, the Camelot colt kicked off last term with a third-placed finish in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket in April but did not run again until mid-August.

He was workmanlike on his comeback in the Royal Whip Stakes when needing the run and raised his game significantly to see off the French challenge Onesto and Vadeni in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown the following month.

Luxembourg could finish only seventh on his most recent appearance in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, but O’Brien is in no doubt he will be a force to be reckoned with as a four-year-old.

He said: “We were very happy with his first run back at the Curragh and delighted with him in Leopardstown.

“We trained him very hard for Leopardstown and a combination of that and the very soft ground in France for the Arc, it might have just been all a little bit too much for him.

“We think he’s going to be very smart this year.”

Luxembourg looks set to follow a tried and tested route, with the Tattersalls Gold Cup already identified as his first Group One objective before a potential appearance at Royal Ascot.

Aidan O'Brien has high hopes for Luxembourg in 2023
Aidan O’Brien has high hopes for Luxembourg in 2023 (Brian Lawless/PA)

O’Brien added: “We’ll start him at a mile and a quarter and look at a couple of those Irish mile-and-a-quarter races on the way to the Tattersalls Gold Cup.

“Then we could go from the Tattersalls on to maybe Royal Ascot for the Prince of Wales’s and we can go up in trip then after that.

“I didn’t think he’d get back for the Irish Champion the way he did, his run in the Arc was a respectable run and we thought there was plenty more to come from him.

“We think he’s going to be a very exciting horse.”