Australia has been set the task of accounting for Europe’s premier older horses after stamping himself the best colt in his generation over a classic distance. Successive wins in the G1 Investec Derby and G1 Irish Derby have been greeted with thunderous applause and now new challenges have been set to confirm where the star colt stands among the world’s best.
The striking chestnut will return to racing on 20th August in Great Britain in the G1 Juddmonte International (2000m) in a preparation designed to confirm his greatness. The 2014 Juddmonte International will be the richest race ever run at England’s York racecourse carrying a purse of £800,000 (RMB 8.3 million) and is set to again attract a world class field. The summer championship will be a prelude a preparation expected to include the G1 Irish Championship, Ireland’s premier test for all ages, before the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, the race that defines champions.
Only five three-year-olds have won the Juddmonte International in the last quarter of a century. Australia will bid to etch his name into the annals of the time honoured race alongside fellow three-year-olds Sea The Stars (2009), Authorized (2007), Giant’s Causeway (2000), Rodrigo de Triano (1992) and In The Groove). If he can, the case builds for the chestnut as one of the rare specimens to become a champion in the likeness of two champion parents.
Rarely in any sport is the son or daughter of two world class athletes able to mirror the performance of their parents. Australia is shaping as an exception having already emulated his sire, Galileo, and dam, Ouija Board, in winning classics (Investec Derby and Irish Derby) at both Epsom (Great Britain) and the Curragh (Ireland) racecourses.
In the summer of his classic year Galileo, the father of Australia, was involved in two of modern racing’s most memorable clashes when going head-to-head with then world champion Fantastic Light in the subsequent runs after his derby wins. Galileo bested his older rival in the G1 King George and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes before the latter secured revenge by a head after a heart stopping ‘stretch long’ dual in the G1 Irish Champion Stakes. He only had one more start before retiring to become the world’s best stallion.
Ouija Board, for her part, went on to win a further six G1 races in the US, Hong Kong and Great Britain over several seasons and was crowned a world champion for her efforts. Destiny now stands before Australia and the first hurdle is clearly in sight.
Trainer Aidan O’Brien has continued to call Australia the best he has trained, a weighty comment considering the volume of champions he has groomed. Successive derby wins suggest O’Brien’s comments have been made with considerable thought and success in the G1 Juddmonte International will build upon this argument.