Breeders' Cup on the horizon after Auguste Rodin does his latest Lazarus-like impression with Irish Champion Stakes triumph

We've exhausted many analogies documenting Auguste Rodin's rollercoaster campaign but maybe the most pertinent proverb for this unique colt is the trope about it not being about how many times you fall, but how many times you get back up.

He is surely the living embodiment of such defiant fortitude. Having already recovered from an abysmal 2,000 Guineas blowout to secure Derby glory at Epsom, the brilliant but mercurial Deep Impact colt repeated that redemptive feat by leaving behind a similarly insipid King George showing to triumph in an enthralling Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes under Ryan Moore.

Lest we forget, Auguste Rodin also mopped up an Irish Derby in between, so he is having a fair stab at thwarting the efforts of his Ballydoyle stablemate Paddington to be ranked the best middle-distance colt of the Classic generation. The two horses have enjoyed very different but equally remarkable seasons, but both are defined by the mark of a genius. 

At this stage, the well of superlatives for Aidan O'Brien's talents has run dry. It's not even that his wizardry extends to executing these mega miracles, it's that he effectively tells us in advance what is about to happen. Even now, we are too slow to be convinced, but the people who really need to be convinced aren't short of faith. 

Coolmore supremo Michael Tabor was standing beside O'Brien in the Leopardstown winner's enclosure after the trainer welcomed back his 12th victor of what is one of the international scene's marquee autumn championship Group 1s. Like the rest of us, he heard what O'Brien was saying when he insisted the real Auguste Rodin would show up at the urban venue. However, unlike many, he believed.

Judging by the way the market finally settled on the Derby hero being the one – he returned the 11-4 favourite – Tabor probably put his money where O'Brien's mouth was as well. 

"I certainly did, because in the paddock he was very confident," Tabor replied when asked if he believed in O'Brien's conviction. "It surprised me how confident he was. It is so difficult because you see a horse run so poorly like that, and then you speak to Aidan afterwards and he is still full of confidence, and he seems to know the reasons why the horse ran badly. And as you can see, he just brings them back to their best – and we do all have off days."

Whether that is true of O'Brien is open to debate. As ever, he was inclined to deflect praise for this latest Lazarus-like resurrection, but his fingerprints were all over it, right down to the minute details of how the €1.25 million showpiece unfolded. 

Auguste Rodin fends off a cluster of top-class horses at LeopardstownCredit: Patrick McCann

The stable's 2022 winner Luxembourg took them along under Seamie Heffernan after Point Lonsdale just failed to fulfil that brief. He instead sat second, and Moore, ever the calm presence in the eye of a storm, tracked them both on the rail. 

When Point Lonsdale swung wide in the straight, he sent Auguste Rodin about his business between horses, and the classy colt excelled for the drop back to ten furlongs to claim Luxembourg at the furlong pole. He didn't do a lot in front, but he did enough to have half a length to spare at the line, with Nashwa keeping on purposefully from the rear to finish a close third.

King Of Steel, the Derby runner-up and King George third, lacked the tactical pace to get involved, but he stayed on to be fourth. Onesto never got into it. 

In truth, a contest that was billed as an epic was really all about one horse, or, maybe more specifically, one man, for all that he might not accept the plaudits. 

"He is a great horse, that's the bottom line," O'Brien insisted in his trademark attempt to play down his role. "He was always a brilliant horse from the first day he worked."

Of the Newmarket and Ascot wipeouts, he added by mangling a metaphor with aplomb: "A couple of times this year it all went totally wrong, all the ducks went against him. You usually need them all to go with you but they went against him. 

"Ryan took him out of it at Ascot when it went wrong so there was no mental or physical damage, that's why he came out of the race so well."  

Aidan O'Brien (far left): "The lads love the Breeders' Cup so that's a strong possibility."Credit: Patrick McCann

Auguste Rodin was O'Brien's fifth successive winner of the race and Moore's fifth since he thwarted Australia aboard The Grey Gatsby at the inaugural Irish Champions Festival in 2014. It remains to be seen if or when he will run again, but the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita looks the most likely option as O'Brien indicated the prospect of soft ground at Longchamp and Ascot would likely rule out the Arc and Champion Stakes. 

"Everyone knows what he is worth and how important he is to the breed because he brings two continents together with his pedigree, but credit to the lads for having so much confidence," said O'Brien. "They never panic, and Michael always said that he wants to race."

"I think everything is possible," Tabor agreed. "And as John Magnier reminds me, we're not getting any younger, so we want to enjoy the horses as much as anybody else, that's for sure. If the horse tells Aidan that he is in good condition and is as he has been today, then I would think we would carry on."

Moore had an able partner, but his riding is on another scale these days. Like his boss, he was coolness personified despite the magnitude of what they conspired to achieve here. "It never really felt in any real doubt," he said afterwards. "I'm delighted with him. It's a fantastic job to get him back. He's beaten some proven Group 1 horses so it's satisfying."

Read more . . .

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'That will leave him in a very good place' - Aidan O'Brien reacts after Classic hope Diego Velazquez squeezes home in Group 2 

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