Aidan O'Brien says he is ready to ‘push boundaries’ with star older horses Auguste Rodin and Luxembourg by running them on dirt in 2024.
The master of Ballydoyle flirted with a change of surface for both Auguste Rodin, in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Luxembourg in Saturday’s £16 million Saudi Cup.
And he admitted to having some regret about deciding on the £1.5m Neom Turf Cup in Riyadh for Luxembourg's seasonal debut instead of taking on the world’s richest horse race. The Saudi Cup features White Abarrio and Derma Sotogake, first and second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last year, and Ushba Tesoro who won the Dubai World Cup.
World number one trainer O’Brien is taking an increasing interest in international racing and will aim to secure his second big overseas win of the year at the King Abdulaziz racetrack.
“Before the season used to end but now it doesn’t,” he said. “I think it’s massive for owners, trainers, breeders, fans, everybody all over the world.”
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Luxembourg, narrowly beaten in Hong Kong in December, has been exercising over the main dirt track since arriving in Saudi Arabia. “We were thinking very strong about the Saudi Cup,” he said. “We were in two minds about it.
Luxembourg returns in £1.5m race in Saudi Arabia (Getty)“The Saudi Cup on the dirt is probably the most exciting race in the world. We were going to go there and take the chance and last minute we decided maybe it was the wrong thing for the horse this time in the season when he hadn’t ran on the dirt.
“When we saw Luxembourg cantering over the surface we were kind of saying we should have taken the chance. We nearly did it but hopefully we could be there next year with him.
“Luxembourg is a Group 1 winner at two, three and four. He’s a big powerful long-striding, scopey horse with a good mind and very sound. We think we haven’t seen the best of him yet.”
O’Brien said Luxembourg could head to the Dubai World Cup meeting in March after Saturday where he would be joined by last year’s Derby and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Auguste Rodin.
Ryan Moore and Auguste Rodin have Dubai target (AP)Auguste Rodin took a trip to Dundalk racecourse last Friday for a workout over the track. “He went a mile and a quarter at Dundalk with three other horses and went very well. He came back and we will start the run into Dubai," he said.
“The plan is the Dubai Sheema Classic for Auguste Rodin then the Tattersalls Gold Cup and then looking at Ascot for the Prince of Wales,” he said.
“Then we could even have a look at racing him on the dirt after that. With those types of horses, it’s very possible we will kind of push the boundaries out and explore a little bit and see what does happen."
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