Apples And Bananas heads to the winner’s circle (Breandán Ó hUallacháin)
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By Breandán Ó hUallacháin
Apples And Bananas won the Goffs Million at The Curragh Racecourse, County Kildare, Ireland, on Saturday afternoon.
The winner, trained by former Breeders’ Cup-winning jockey and trainer, Joseph O’Brien, was ridden by County Donegal-born jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle.
In the 14-runner field, the son of Wootton Bassett, a winner of the Listed Critérium du Fonds Europeen de l’Elevage at Deauville, France, in August, battled with Antelope Canyon in the dying stages of today’s seven-furlong race, eventually succeeding by a head.
The winner was bred at Baroda Stud in Ireland and was purchased by M.V. Magnier, son of Coolmore supremo, John Magnier, for €130,000 at Goffs’ Orby Book 1 Sale in September 2023.
The runner-up, a colt by No Nay Never, bred by Lynch Bages Limited and Lindy Farms and purchased from Baroda Stud by M.V. Magnier for €150,000, is trained by the winning handler’s father, Aidan O’Brien, for the Coolmore partners.
The successful ownership of MacLennan/Shanahan/Magnier and Smith collected the first prize of €495,000, while the Coolmore partnership of Derrick Smith, Mrs John Magnier and Michael Tabor won €200,000 for second place.
Ten of the 14 horses that contested the Goffs-sponsored race received money, with the 10th-place finisher winning €10,000.
Not alone did Joseph O’Brien train the winner, Apples And Bananas, but the Carriganóg Racing boss was also responsible for the third horse home, Celtic Motif in the hands of Mikey Sheehy, who was three lengths behind the runner-up. O’Brien also trained the fourth-place finisher, Valencia, who was a further length and a half back under rider Chris Hayes.
A stewards’ inquiry was called directly after the race, but the result remained unchanged.
“I’m delighted with him – he’s as tough as nails”, admitted the successful conditioner of the Phoenix Thoroughbreds Limited-bred colt. “He got a positive ride from Dylan and he boxed on well to the line. He’s obviously better at a mile but it’s a great pot to win and fair play to Goffs [race sponsor]. It’s a fantastic incentive for people to buy horses next week [at Goffs Sale and they could then qualify for the 2025 Goffs Million]. We’ll be going back there to hopefully find a horse for next year.”
The Owning Hill, County Kilkenny-based former champion flat jockey continued:
“The winner had stakes form and led all the way. I see him as a horse that will go 10 furlongs. There is a bit of stamina in his pedigree – it is an Aga Khan family. We’ll have a look at one of the Saint-Cloud [France] races and I think we have him in the Futurity [at Doncaster, England]. I’d say he could go in any one of those races before we pull up for the year.”
Discussing his third-place finisher, Celtic Motif, who looked to have had a troubled passage during the closing stages of the race, O’Brien said:
“Michael [Sheehy, jockey] said that he met a lot of traffic. I’ll have to watch it again but I knew at halfway that he was on the stand rail with a big pack in front of him, so the filly did well to get third.”
