Aidan O'Brien blames early incident for disappointing run of High Definition

High Definition will be freshened up and aimed at races in the autumn after disappointing in Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, his trainer Aidan O’Brien has confirmed.

Sent off a 9-4 favourite for the Classic, High Definition trailed home in tenth behind the winner Hurricane Lane, with O’Brien pointing to an incident that took place after two furlongs as a possible excuse for the below-par run.

The son of Galileo appeared to run into a dead end and stumbled at the rear of the field after just a couple of furlongs. It was this incident that O’Brien believes was the undoing of his colt.

Watch the replay of the Irish Derby here

He explained: “After two furlongs he clipped heels and he nearly came down. Ryan [Moore] said he got disorganised and that he could never get him going after that happened.

“Maybe he frightened himself. Ryan said he was just on the wrong leg and he couldn’t get him back. He never could click him into gear so it was a non-event really.”

Unbeaten as a juvenile, and impressive in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at the Curragh, High Definition made a belated seasonal debut when third to Hurricane Lane in the Dante Stakes at York.

High Definition (third): made a promising reappearance in the Dante StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

High Definition had been scheduled to make his seasonal reappearance in the Lingfield Derby Trial, but was ruled out after showing high levels of Serum Amyloid A (SAA) in a blood test, which only came right a matter of days before the Dante.

Saturday’s race was just the fourth of High Definition’s career and O’Brien is willing to put a line through it.

He said: “When he ran against the winner at York, it looked as though another couple of furlongs would've been right up his alley, so we'll just put a line through it.

"We'll give him a little rest and have him back for the autumn. It just didn’t work. It was one of those days.”

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