'He's very exciting' - Aidan O'Brien takes unorthodox route to Irish 2,000 Guineas success with Paddington

Aidan O'Brien has hardly been mired in an irrevocable slump but sometimes a change of tack is required to inject some life into proceedings and Paddington winning a Classic having started his season in a handicap is about as unconventional as it gets in Ballydoyle. 

With the Newmarket Classics a miserable washout for the all-conquering outfit, we were starting to wonder if the three-year-olds in Rosegreen might not be quite up to the exalted standard we have come to expect. 

Moreover, having gone five years without winning the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas, defeat for all three of O'Brien's runners in the €500,000 Group 1 would have constituted his longest losing streak in the race since he first won it with Desert King in 1997.

Step forward Paddington, who had bombed when sent to Ascot for his track debut in the autumn before getting off the mark on soft ground at the Curragh. 

The Madrid Handicap isn't a recognised Classic trial but, on his March reappearance, he ground out another victory in deep ground there off a rating of 97 before following up the Listed Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh. 

With Little Big Bear reverting to sprinting so spectacularly at Haydock and Auguste Rodin bound for Epsom, opportunity knocked back at headquarters. Paddington seized his chance under another gem of a Ryan Moore ride.

Paddington: provided Aidan O'Brien with a 12th Irish 2,000 GuineasCredit: Patrick McCann

In a Classic run at a modest gallop, Moore parked his mount close to the pace, which was set by the 2,000 Guineas runner-up Hi Royal. This time, with Oisin Murphy making good use of the inside rail, Kevin Ryan's charge kept straight when the gloves came off. Once again, Hi Royal wasn't quite good enough, although he kept going to finish third, which was better than any of those reopposing from Newmarket fared. 

The winner's stablemate Cairo nabbed second off Hi Royal late on, but by then Paddington had left the station. While Moore had to get serious when sending him about his business over a furlong out, this son of Siyouni responded to surge two lengths clear. It remains to be seen exactly how good he is, but there was more than a hint of normal service resumed about the outcome.

"He had been doing everything really nicely," O'Brien said of his record-extending 12th winner of the race. "He's a fine, big horse and is maturing very well, and Ryan gave him a brilliant ride. He was a little bit slow away but Ryan got his position on him, and he didn't light him up to do it. He's a very exciting horse."

It isn't the first time O'Brien has produced a Classic winner via a handicap, but it is certainly rare. Explaining how such a talented colt flew under the radar, he also pointed to concerns about his ability to handle this better ground. 

"He got beat at Ascot and ran bad, and he came back and won a maiden here," he said. "And because he ended up with a respectable handicap mark, we were able to start him in the Madrid. He didn't bolt up in it or anything, just a couple of lengths, but the ground was bad and then he won a Tetrarch here on bad ground. So you're never sure – because he's a Siyouni and they handle soft ground, and he's out of a Montjeu mare as well – what's going to happen when they go on to good ground, but he's obviously just very classy."

Aidan O'Brien, Ryan Moore and groom Michael Webster with Irish 2,000 Guineas winner PaddingtonCredit: Patrick McCann

Returned at odds of 3-1, Paddington is now as low as 5-2 second favourite (from as big as 16-1) to lower Chaldean's colours in the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. O'Brien confirmed that looked the most obvious target, and Moore certainly liked what he felt en route to his third Irish 2,000 Guineas win.

Connections had to survive a stewards' inquiry after the winner edged across Hi Royal as he went clear, but such was his superiority the outcome was not in doubt. 

"He's still learning, so I was very happy with him. He's a very good horse," said Moore. "He has a lot of pace, a really good turn of foot, and I think he has the potential to do some different things."

Charyn and Galeron, eighth and fourth at Newmarket, kept on to be fourth and fifth here, but they never seriously threatened, and nor did Royal Scotsman. Sent off the 6-4 favourite after enduring a nightmare on the Rowley Mile and supplemented at a cost of €50,000, Jamie Spencer's partner ran tamely despite settling better. 

"No excuses – he just didn't fire," said a perplexed Spencer. "I moved out at the three [furlong pole] but by the time I got to the two pole I knew the die was cast. He clearly hasn't run his race. All the horses that were behind him at Newmarket were in front of him today."

And in front of them all was one was never even in the conversation for Newmarket.  

According the internet, one of Paddington Bear's best lines is when he rues: “I'll never be like other people, but that's all right because I'm a bear.” 

This particular Paddington might be cut from a similarly unorthodox cloth, but that's all right because he's a Classic winner. Regardless of the route taken, O'Brien's capacity to get them to that destination in the end is a fairly immovable constant. 

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