O'Brien expecting Illinois progress after Gold Cup defeat

Leader Live

20-06-2025

Less than a month ago the Ballydoyle handler expected to be saddling dual Gold Cup hero Kyprios in his bid for a 10th victory in the two-and-a-half-mile feature, but the recurrence of an old injury and his star stayer's subsequent retirement left O'Brien with no option but to shuffle his pack.
Illinois looked bound for the Coronation Cup at Epsom following his winning reappearance in Chester's Ormonde Stakes, but Jan Brueghel successfully stepped in to fill that void, meaning Illinois was asked to run over a full mile further in Berkshire and he found Kyprios' old rival Trawlerman too strong.
O'Brien said: 'We thought Illinois would be a Gold Cup horse next year and obviously the plan was Kyprios would come here this year and Illinois would step up next year.
'The plan was for him to go to the Coronation and I was training him as a good mile-and-a-half horse, and then when Kyprios retired we switched him to this race.
'We have to be happy with the run and he had a lovely preparation the last day. Maybe if we knew he was coming here straight away, we might of had him going earlier and maybe lighter.'
While Illinois was seemingly put in his place by Trawlerman, O'Brien would not shirk a potential rematch in the Goodwood Cup, adding: 'He might go to Goodwood and meet this horse again and I would imagine he will progress again then.
'He got tired at the two-furlong pole today, like a lot of horses do, and we will see if we can improve him another little bit for this distance.
'It shows how good Kyprios was as Trawlerman had been second to him a couple of times, I think.'
Illinois was beaten seven lengths by Trawlerman and was a further seven lengths clear of Saeed bin Suroor's Dubai Future in third.
'He did well and he stayed. I put a hood and cheekpieces on him which made him nice and relaxed in the race,' said bin Suroor.
'James (McDonald) gave him a good ride and he's tough – he's a horse who at nine years old is still young at heart. He's doing really well and we are very happy with him.
'I think we will go to Goodwood next. The winner is a good horse, but I am pleased with my horse's run.'
The disappointment of the race was perhaps French raider Candelari, who had won four of his five previous starts for Francis Henri-Graffard but was a well-beaten sixth on this occasion.
Graffard said: 'He was travelling nicely when the pace was fine but when the winner started to quicken and upped the pace, my horse was quite surprised.
'To come here in this type of race, they need the experience. In France they don't learn an awful lot as they crawl in races then sprint. This horse has a great turn of foot but he can't use his turn of foot in a race like that over that distance.
'He gained a lot of experience there and he is only four and still improving, but it is still disappointing. I need to learn and think how I can get him better to be competitive.
'I think he is still an exciting stayer, as you saw from his win in France, but today was a different game over a very long distance.
'I have a lot of faith in him and six months ago he hadn't seen a racecourse, so he has come a long way in a short space of time.'