Sons And Lovers

Joseph Patrick O'Brien trains him out of Owning Hill in Co Kilkenny, and this is a yard operating at serious volume right now — 160 winners already this season. O'Brien is clearly a man who knows what he has here: he's pointed Sons And Lovers toward international staying races, mentioned Chester and the Belmont Gold Cup as possibilities, and after a win in Riyadh earlier this year, spoke warmly about how the horse is beginning to settle into those longer trips. That win in Saudi Arabia was only his first time attempting the distance, and getting a horse to relax and find a rhythm on debut at a new trip, in a foreign country, is exactly the kind of thing that suggests there's more to come.

His best performances come over 1 mile 6 furlongs to 2 miles, where he's won 1 from 3 races — that's a 33% win rate at the trip, which stands out sharply against his overall figures. Longer distances seem to suit him, and the international programme O'Brien has mapped out plays directly to that strength. His most recent win came at Leopardstown in August 2025, so he's been chasing rather than winning in the months since — but the places have kept coming, with his last six runs reading 4-3-1-5-4-3. That third place most recently shows he's still competitive.

The one cloud is his record at the very top level. He's raced seven times in Class 1 company — the elite tier of racing — without winning once. That's a real challenge, and it's the question that follows him into any big summer target. But O'Brien's ambition for him is undimmed, and a horse who has already won in Saudi Arabia and run well at Meydan has shown he can travel, compete, and perform. The next few months should tell us whether he can take that final step.