AIDAN O’BRIEN’S comments after Auguste Rodin’s King George defeat were branded ‘insulting to Ascot’ by commentary great Simon Holt.
The Ballydoyle handler watched in horror as the 7-4 fav completely ran out of gas on going officially labelled good to firm last Saturday.
French raider Goliath sprung the ultimate shock at 25-1 as O’Brien also had Luxembourg finish out the places as well as pacesetter Hans Andersen.
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The writing looked somewhat on the wall as former Derby winner Auguste Rodin drifted in the betting all morning.
That came on the back of O’Brien walking the track ahead of the £1.25million Group 1.
O’Brien let rip in an ITV interview afterwards claiming the official going description was simply not as advertised.
The legendary trainer said: “We walked the track and we were very worried then. It was good, good to soft in places, it was nowhere near good to firm.
“It was cut up on the rails and it was full of sand. We knew we had no choice, that’s where we were and we had to go down there.
“With the benefit of hindsight we should have kept out on the quicker ground, but that’s the way it is.”
But Ascot clerk of the course Chris Stickels defended the track’s decision to water on Friday, before what was a hot weekend.
And he said the times of the races backed up the official going description.
He said: “The times indicate it’s as described on the round course.
“It was a fast time in the King George and the Valiant (Group 3 earlier on the card) time also indicated a mixture of good to firm and good ground.”
O’Brien’s comments sparked a flurry of comments online, including one from famed commentator Holt.
In response to the clip of O’Brien’s interview, he wrote: “Quite insulting to Ascot.
“King George run over two seconds below standard. Looked like they went too fast before Luxembourg ‘drifted’ off the rail.”
It’s fair to say a few others disagreed with what O’Brien had to say.
One wrote: “Bit of a kick in the nuts for punters who keep the faith with the stable.
“If you had that strong feeling about the ground, withdraw the horse and save punters a few quid.”
And another said: “The excuses are boring.”
However, a post from ratings experts Timeform flew in the face of what O’Brien thought.
Their post read: “The times suggest the the ground at @Ascot was close to the official description of good to firm, good in places.”
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