RACING: The cream of Aidan O'Brien's classic hopefuls, including Johannesburg, Hawk Wing and Rock of Gibraltar, made a surprise flying visit to Lingfield's all-weather track yesterday.
Working in groups of three, each horse did a one mile canter on the sand surface and afterwards O'Brien revealed that Johannesburg and Castle Gandolfo are his two most likely runners in the Kentucky Derby.
Johannesburg worked with the double Group One winner, Rock of Gibraltar, as well as the older horse Shoal Creek. The horses were ridden by Seamus Heffernan, Paul Scallan and Colm O'Donoghue.
The second group consisted of the National Stakes winner, Hawk Wing, Castle Gandolfo, who won the Beresford Stakes last year and Sholokhov.
"It was just a day away for them and I was delighted with what they did. The are all possibles for the trial races but it is too early to say where exactly they will run. I was very happy with Hawk Wing and he is a possible for the Guineas," O'Brien said afterwards.
The afternoon workout is not the first time O'Brien has used one of Britain's all-weather tracks.Both Galileo and Giant's Causeway had workouts on the sand before travelling to the US.
Johannesburg is one of the favourites for the Kentucky Derby in early May and has been provisionally pencilled in for a trial race at Lingfield on April 6th. O'Brien confirmed that the colt remains a possible for that race.
