Horse Racing: Macarthur Cut After O'brien Drops Derby Hint

Losing your star player before the teams take the field is not the best way to prepare for a big match. As Aidan O'Brien assessed his prospects for the forthcoming Flat season yesterday, the Ballydoyle trainer admitted he would have to be calling on his reserves to fill the void left by Holy Roman Emperor.

Controversially retired to stud at Coolmore as a replacement for George Washington, who had fertility problems, Holy Roman Emperor would have been the standard-bearer for O'Brien in his campaign to add to his amazing tally of 11 British Classic victories in the last six years.

O'Brien, and a disappointed racing public, have been denied the opportunity of seeing Holy Roman Emperor renew rivalry with Jim Bolger's Teofilo, the colt who beat him so narrowly in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket last October.

"We just need a horse to step forward now, as Teofilo and Holy Roman Emperor were ahead of the rest," said O'Brien. "We had put all our eggs in one basket with Holy Roman and had been easier on the other horses, so we are now having to pull them out and march them up to see who can replace him."

O'Brien singled out Duke Of Marmalade and Mount Nelson as the colts most likely to offer resistance to Teofilo in the 2,000 Guineas on May 5. Backers of Mount Nelson for the Derby, however, were in for a surprise when the trainer doubted the colt's stamina for the trip at Epsom.

"Mount Nelson had a break over the winter and has not been back in very long. He is a possible for the Guineas as he is not guaranteed to get a mile and a half," said O'Brien. Mount Nelson is currently second favourite for the Derby with most bookmakers, but the one that emerged as the Ballydoyle dark horse for Epsom was the 20-1 shot Macarthur - which was promptly cut to 16s by William Hill.

A full brother to Michael Bell's 2005 Derby winner Motivator, Macarthur won a Navan maiden by three lengths on his only outing in October. "Macarthur won't go the Guineas route. He is more likely to go to the Ballysax Stakes and Derrinstown Trial. I think he is more likely to get a trip." Significantly, that is the route O'Brien took with his previous Derby winners, Galileo and High Chaparral.

Yellowstone, Astronomer Royal and Eagle Mountain were nominated by O'Brien as others who could force their way into the 2,000 Guineas picture.

Finding jockeys while Kieren Fallon serves out the rest of a six-month ban seemed the least of O'Brien's worries. Fallon, banned here pending a court case, was suspended by the French last year after testing positive for a prohibited substance. "Kieren has been riding out here and keeping himself fit," said O'Brien. "I think he comes back in the middle of summer so we will see what happens. If the horses are there, we will find the jockeys."

The trainer was referring to the horses when he added: "We have to keep the faith They have to improve, though, and be as good, or better, than Holy Roman to beat Jim Bolger's horse."