Aidan O’Brien’s 2000 Guineas favourite Albert Einstein has been declared to make his eagerly-anticipated return to action in the 1xBet.ie Supports Irish Racing Gladness Stakes at the Curragh on Saturday.
The Wootton Bassett colt has not been seen since beating subsequent Group One winner Power Blue in the Marble Hill Stakes last May.
A setback ruled him out of Royal Ascot and subsequently the rest of the season, but O’Brien was effusive in his praise of the three-year-old at a recent stable open day, saying: “Albert is the main horse. When we started working him in the spring of his two-year-old career we thought all the two-year-olds were no good and we thought he was the only horse we had.
“He was that much above everything else, it was unusual.”
At that time O’Brien said he was likely to head straight to Newmarket, but a change of heart has seen him declared for the Listed race along with stable companion Neolithic.
He faces far from an easy task against proven performers such as Ed Walker’s Ten Bob Tony, Johnny Murtagh’s Rahmi and Big Gossey, who beat O’Brien’s subsequent French Derby winner Camille Pissarro in this race 12 months ago.
Another very interesting runner from Ballydoyle on the card is George Stubbs in the Final Furlong Podcast At 1xBet.ie Maiden.
At the same open day O’Brien said: “We always thought the world of George Stubbs which is why we gave him the name. But every time we gave him one last piece of work before running he disappointed.
“He’s a mile-and-a-half horse. He’s called George Stubbs because everything about him is beautiful.”
