So You Think “Best Horse We’ve Ever Had” – O’Brien

So You Think

Trainer Aidan O'Brien impressed with So You Think

It only took one start on European soil for Australia’s champion So You Think to leave an impact so big on trainer Aidan O’Brien that he could be the best he’s ever had.

O’Brien is considered one of the best trainers across Europe and he has trained some of the greatest in history but after the incredible 10 length win So You Think recorded on debut in the Group 3 Mooresbridge Stakes, this Aussie could be something else.

“I spoke with Aidan after the race and he said So You Think is probably the best horse we have ever had,” Coolmore Australia’s racing manager Tom Magnier said.

“If you look through the horses we have had with Aidan, that is unbelievable. Dad [John Magnier] went to the races to watch So You Think and see what the horse is all about and he was blown away by it, too. There hasn’t been so much excitement in the [Coolmore] camp about a horse like this for a long time.”

O’Briend trains specifically for John Magnier and the Coolmore Stable, an arrangement that’s been in place since 1996.

In the time a host of champions have passed through his watch including Galileo, Rock Of Gibraltar, Yeats and even So You Thinks sire High Chaparral.

“We’d heard how special he was,” O’Brien said.

“But you don’t really know, it can be mystery and fantasy until you see it close up yourself.. Now we’ve taken the lid off – ever so slightly – we can see and feel and believe that aura. He’s an incredible specimen.”

Coolmore became the major share holder in So You Think after the Melbourne Cup last year and the price they paid is rumoured to have valued the colt at $60 million.

It’s not the first time there’s been big interest from Europe in horses racing down under and certainly not the first time they’ve gone on to be successful.

Coolmore has previously purchased Haradasun which in 2008 claimed the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Just last year they had Starspangledbanner win both the Group 1 Golden Jubilee Stakes and the Group 1 July Cup.

When talking about the involvement Coolmore has had with the Australian champions Magnier was full of praise.

“It’s not really a gamble, honestly,” he said

“It’s a tribute to the quality of Australian racehorses.

“We can’t praise [former trainer] Bart Cummings enough. Bart made So You Think and we just have to keep him ticking over now.

“Hopefully, he goes on and sets the racing world on fire now.”

While he destroyed the field in his first test, So You Think still needs to deliver on his promise of a Group 1 and he’ll have much more of a challenge when that rolls around.

At the moment it’s expected he’ll run in the Tattersall’s Gold Cup at Curragh later in May.

In that race he’s likely to meet Workforce, winner of multiple European Group 1’s including the  English Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, so a victory over him would secure So You Thinks position as one of the best in the world.

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