O'Brien, Mendelssohn 'mind-blown' by Kentucky Derby try
In interviews with European media Sunday, trainer Aidan O’Brien took anything but a sour grapes approach to Mendelssohn’s last-place finish in the 2018 Kentucky Derby.
O’Brien told RacingUK.com that this weekend’s race at Churchill Downs presented a sensory overload — not just for the horse, but his connections, too. He’s already thinking about how to better prepare his next runner, should the opportunity present itself for the native of Ireland.
“We weren’t prepared for the level of atmosphere,” O’Brien told RacingUK.com. “There were around 170,000 people; all wet; all screaming. There was rain coming from everywhere and everyone was drowned.
“Everyone had these plastic things on then - I cannot explain it to you,” he added, talking about ponchos. “There were people and creatures everywhere and he was mind-blown by the whole thing.”
O’Brien finished as high as fifth in a past renewal. But the wettest Derby day on record made for a different experience this year, one Brown compared to “the crowd of two Cup finals all together,” meaning a soccer championship.
On the track, Mendelssohn was swiped out of the gate, splashed by mud and taken out of the race by jockey Ryan Moore.
“That blueprint can change from year to year until you get it to where you really want it, fine tuned,” he said of preparing a future Derby starter.
“…We have to be more aggressive from the gate - those horses on that road are taught that way from day one.”
Justify left his stall cleanly and took a clear trip in the 1 1/4-mile race, ending the 136-year-old Curse of Apollo. Another lengthy streak remains: no horse has ever shipped from Europe and won the Derby.
“American dirt racing is very aggressive at the best of times but when the weather goes like that the aggression turns nearly into savagery,” O’Brien said in the interview.
He hopes to be back soon, setting a goal for Mendelssohn — a half brother to champion Beholder — to return to Churchill Downs for the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic.