Aidan O'Brien's leading filly Hermosa is being sent back to a mile by her trainer as she looks to revive her season after landing the English and Irish 1000 Guineas on her first two starts but not being able to back that up on her latest few runs.
The three year old tried to land the third Group one of the season at Royal Ascot but fell short in the Coronation Stakes when only being beaten by one runner, the French raider Watch Me in what was a big shock at the festival.
In her latest contest the Ballydoyle trainer decided to step her up to 1 mile 2 furlong in the hope it would bring more out of the filly but unfortunately it did the opposite and she gave her worst performance of the season blowing out early and finishing way back in the field.
Overall she was beaten by 49 lengths compared to the winner and normally after such a special horse buts in a poor performance like that there is an injury but not in this case.
(Credit At The Races) O'Brien hopes his daughter of Galileo can get back back to her best in the Matron Stakes and said: “Hermosa is going to go back to a mile for the Matron at Leopardstown.
“Goodwood was a bit of a funny race and Frankie (Dettori) was riding a mile-and-a-half horse (Mehdaayih) and they went quick.
“It doesn’t mean we won’t go back to a mile and a quarter again at some point, but we will go back to a mile at Leopardstown.
“We probably didn’t learn a lot at Goodwood with the pace and the track. It was a bit of a non-event really. If you don’t act at Goodwood it can all go out of the window very quick.”
O'Brien is set to run a host of his horses across the Irish Champions weekend at the Curragh and Leopardstown across the weekend commencing on the 14th September.
Last years St Leger winner Kew Gardens will bid to give the Irishman a third straight victory in the Irish version of the race when he makes his first start since his second in the Group one Coronation Stakes at Epsom.
O’Brien said: “Kew Gardens is in good form and is going to start in the Irish St Leger. He went a little bit wrong on us so we had to stop with him. He is back in good shape and is ready to start.
“He stays very well and he gets a good trip. We were looking forward to the Gold Cup this year as we thought he was a made Gold Cup horse.
“I would think he would get further than two miles and I don’t know if he would be quick enough for the Melbourne Cup.”
Another bright spark in his arsenal is his juvenile prospect Armory who looks to be stepping up to his first black type race when taking on Godolphin's Pinatubo in the Group One National Stakes a week on Sunday.
O’Brien added: “Armory is in good shape and he is going to the National Stakes. We look forward to all those races. It is good for everybody.
“Nobody wants to see easy races they all want to see the good horses clash. You win some and lose some. You learn if you have to improve or if you are good enough.”