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Henri Matisse made it a quick-fire Grade 1 double for trainer Aidan O’Brien in the one-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday evening.
Henri Matisse made it a quick-fire Grade 1 double for trainer Aidan O'Brien in the one-mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf on Friday evening.
It was a success which took Aidan O'Brien level with D Wayne Lukas for the highest number of Breeders' Cup wins – twenty victories at America's premier meeting.
A beautifully bred son of Wootton Bassett out of a Group 1 winning mare, Henri Matisse remained undefeated in his first three career outings including an easy victory in the Group 2 Futurity Stakes at the Curragh, beating subsequent Group 1 Futurity Trophy hero Hotazhell. He suffered a surprise defeat in the Group 1 National Stakes before disappointing behind stablemate Camille Pissarro in the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp – where the first-time application of blinkers was cited as a cause for the colt's performance.
With the blinkers left off for the Juvenile Turf, Henri Matisse was a well-fancied contender against fellow European juveniles and enjoyed an easier passage through the race from stall thirteen than stablemate Lake Victoria earlier in the evening. Jockey Ryan Moore was able to settle the colt in the rear of the field through the first bend and began to pick off rivals entering the final straight, coming with a strong late surge on the outside. Iron Man Cal placed second and Aomori City, despite breaking through the stalls before the off, finished well to pick up third.
In an interview with NBC, Ryan Moore said: "It was very easy today. He did it beautifully and we've been learning about him. The step up to a mile around a bend on nice ground helped him, but he just takes figuring out a little bit.
"I said to Aidan beforehand I felt he was by far the best horse in the race and he did it very easily. He just travelled into it and I was wide on the bend, but he took me there very comfortably. He's won without even knowing he was in the race."
O'Brien added: "I did the wrong thing putting blinkers on him in France and he got a bad bump early on. He got a little bit of fright on bad ground. A good few things went wrong that day we could forget about and he's not the finished article either. He's a beautiful horse and he's getting better every week.
"A lot of people put in so much hard work day in day out for stuff like this to happen. Tomorrow's another day but we're so grateful to get horses like these. It's a very difficult meeting, but you have to come and sense it for what it's like."
Of his record-equalling twentieth Breeders' Cup victory alongside D Wayne Lukas, O'Brien said: "It's incredible. We all know what a special man Wayne is and it's an honour to be anywhere close to his record.
"What can you say about Wayne? He's always such a help to us and he ran me during the week to tell me the way to ride this track. He told us about the way we should ride our horse [City Of Troy] in the Classic too. We feel very grateful and privileged for what he's done for us. We're honoured."
With two wins under their belt, the Ballydoyle team can now look forward to Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic with City Of Troy.