From Handicapper To Three-Time Group 1 Winner: A Look At Paddington’s Monumental Rise This Season

Ahead of every flat racing season, punters are eager to know which horses from Aidan O’Brien’s esteemed Ballydoyle stable in County Tipperary they need to add to their trackers as the master trainer looks to further dominate the sport around the globe.

The name on everyone’s lips ahead of this campaign was Auguste Rodin, and while the Coolmore three-year-old disappointed those who bet on sports with a lacklustre performance in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, he has ultimately lived up to expectations by completing the British/Irish Derby double at Epsom and the Curragh respectively.

Little Big Bear, who won the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock in May, and Meditate, who is yet to really live up to her billing after a string of mediocre performances in high-profile races including the British and Irish versions of the 1000 Guineas, are some of the other horses tipped for success this year.

But one horse who slipped under the radar in the seasonal previews of O’Brien’s yard on Paddy Power News is Paddington. The three-year-old didn’t exactly turn many heads when he won a Premier Handicap by just short of two lengths at Naas on reappearance in March, but little did the experts know then that he would go on to be a real superstar.

Paddington won the Listed Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh next time out, beating stablemate Drumroll by a length and a half, to set up a crack at the Irish 2000 Guineas back at the prestigious County Kildare racecourse. He entered the Classic as the second favourite behind the short-priced Royal Scotsman.

However, under the guidance of Ryan Moore, Paddington started to challenge over a furlong out from the finish and after edging right and bumping a rival, ran on inside the final 110 yards to win by two lengths and going away from stablemate and 14/1 outside Cairo as O’Brien landed a 1-2 with Royal Scotsman faring no better than ninth.

To go from a handicap winner to a Classic champion within the space of two months is an incredible achievement in itself, but Paddington has kept improving. He went to Royal Ascot for a blockbuster clash with fellow Classic winner Chaldean in the St James’s Palace Stakes after his triumph at the Curragh and he was once again less favoured than his counterpart.

But he made easy work of the Newmarket 2000 Guineas victor, leading over a furlong out and running on well in the closing stages to win by a comfortable three and three-quarters of a length from Chaldean in the Group 1 contest at the Royal meeting.

His most recent outing further established the fact that he is one of the best horses in training in the United Kingdom and Ireland at the minute, as Paddington fended off multi-time Group 1 winner Emily Upjohn to win the Eclipse at Sandown Park.

This time, the Coolmore runner was more favoured than the filly, who albeit had to give him seven pounds, and he was always doing enough to win by half a length in the thrilling finish — delivering O’Brien a record seventh victory in the prestigious Eclipse.

Up next for Paddington appears to be a crack at the Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on August 2 and he is the even-money favourite for the one-mile affair, in which he could face the likes of Inspiral (4/1), Triple Time (5/1) and Modern Games (8/1).