Air a Force to be reckoned with

Air Force Blue ran out an impressive winner of the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes, providing his trainer Aidan O'Brien with a quick Group 1 double.

A winner on his debut at the Curragh in May he was then second to Buratino in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

He gained his revenge on Buratino in the Phoenix Stakes over the course on his last start and he made it two Group 1 wins in-a-row today.

Sent off the 10/11 favourite he was settled in fourth by Joseph O'Brien.

He took closer order and travelled strongly on the outer with over two furlongs to race, hitting the front inside the final furlong before being pushed out to score by three lengths. Herald The Dawn finished second at 5/2 under Kevin Manning for Jim Bolger while UK raider Birchwood was a further length and three parts back in third.

Aidan O'Brien said afterwards: "I'm very happy with him. We took a chance running him on ground that he would have hated. He's a real smooth fast ground horse.

"He's very exciting. Joseph said he was running away the whole way and he couldn't even get him back in behind horses.

"He has real pace too. Gleneagles has that pace - natural pace.

"He'll have one more run if he's going to go again and I'd imagine that would be the Dewhurst."

Joseph O'Brien added: "He has a huge engine, he travelled very good throughout the race and with a furlong and a half to go he was still cantering.

"I didn't want to get there too soon. Dad just said before the race to ride him with a lot of confidence and just to win half a length if I could but I had to go when he was going so easy.

"I haven't rode many as good as him. He is very straightforward, he travels, relaxes and has a lot of speed.

"He showed today that he gets seven well. We were a little bit worried about the seven on the ground but he didn't disappoint."

Air Force Blue is now the 4/1 clear favourite (from 8's) with Paddy Power for the 2,000 Guineas next year.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson