Obrien's USA Breeders' Turf Winner Auguste Rodin - Interesting Info
East Coast Racing
SLIPPERGOLDEN
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The Blackhorse Newsletter Reports......
during the Prix de Diane in France in 2017. O’Brien said:
“It was the worst you’ve ever seen. She sprayed blood everywhere.
We put it down to a very hot day and she’s never done it before or
since but they very rarely come back from something like that.”
Rhododendron did come back, eventually completing her rehabilitation by winning
the Group 1 Prix de l’Opera at Chantilly and adding a second Group 1 when winning
the Lockinge Stakes the following year, but her form tailed off markedly and she
was retired.
Mated with Japan’s multiple champion stallion, Deep Impact, her first foal is
Auguste Rodin, a dual Derby winner in 2023. Coolmore has never publicly discussed
how they got Rhododendron back to the track after she bled but the usual
treatment is with furosemides, which are diuretics that reduce blood pressure but
are banned on race day in most jurisdictions around the world for their ability to
improve performance and mask the presence of other prohibited drugs.
7 July 2023
THE BLACK HORSE NEWSLETTER 7
What is interesting about Auguste Rodin is that although he has won the Epsom
and Irish Derbies on his best days he has also run two shocking races (English 2000
Guineas and King George) when it appears he pulled himself up and was tailed off
miles behind. Could he have bled like his mother Rhododendron?
Aidan O’Brien said for some reason the horse’s “power disappeared” in the King
George. The recurring theme of the 160 horses who have bled in UK racing in the
first half of this year is that they lost power and stopped running, which
unsurprisingly happens when the lungs are filling with blood. Some could race
respectably again a few weeks later and not bleed visibly.
As ever in racing somebody somewhere will always come up with another wonder
drug that can sort a problem out, but it’s usually illegal and will enhance
performance.