Sovereign shocks to top O'Brien's Irish Derby trifecta

It wasn’t a surprise to see an Aiden O’Brien trainee win Saturday’s Irish Derby (G1). Rather, it was shocking which of his runners pulled off the feat at the Curragh.

O’Brien registered his race record 13th victory with front-running Sovereign, a son of Galileo who ran well ahead of the rest of the field with Norway through the early portion of the race and simply didn’t give in.

Norway faded, but under jockey P B Beggy, Sovereign kept on going, bouncing back well from a 10th-place finish last time in the Epsom Derby (G1).

"He obviously stays very well," said O'Brien, who described Sovereign as both tactical and a quick breaker from the gate. "He's very genuine. He's a well-bred horse."

O’Brien swept the trifecta as Coolmore-owned Sovereign had plenty in the tank to hold off Anthony Van Dyck, while Norway stuck around for third in the field of eight, five of which were conditioned by Ireland’s most dominant trainer.

"Everyone knows that (Sovereign's) a horse that doesn't mind going along, and the same for Norway," O'Brien said. "The pace was always going to be solid up front."

Sovereign was off at 40-1 as the longest price on the U.S. tote.