Racing: Tomahawk leads the way for O'Brien

Tomahawk ensured that Aidan O'Brien's 2003 campaign started with a winner with an easy victory as the Irish Flat season opened at the Curragh yesterday, but it was a parade of the Ballydoyle élite after racing that really set the pulse galloping.

Tomahawk earned a trim from 20-1 to 14-1 for the 2,000 Guineas from Ladbrokes after his success in the Loughbrown Stakes. But his win also served a reminder that the in-depth strength of O'Brien's string is such that the colt is but one of many being lined up for the Classic occasion. Thus Ladbrokes used the success to cut O'Brien's Hold That Tiger again, this time to 7-2 favourite, from 4-1 for the Newmarket race.

"He'd obviously be a Guineas contender, but which Guineas I'm not sure," O'Brien said. "He had a few gruellers last year and we probably did the wrong thing taking him to America. We just wanted him to have a good experience today and Michael [Kinane] saw to that."

Such was the ease of Tomahawk's win that he had only a marginally less leisurely time than his stablemates, including last year's Derby winner, High Chaparral, and this year's Epsom favourite, Brian Boru, who took to the course after competition had finished.

"The idea with Brian Boru was just to give him a nice exercise without stretching him," O'Brien said. Brian Boru worked with three others and came from the back to join them without Michael Kinane letting go of his head. The Racing Post Trophy winner will now head for Leopardstown next month, a route to Epsom taken by High Chaparral and, the previous year, by Galileo.

High Chaparral did a slightly more energetic piece of work and O'Brien said: "He's gone very strong over the winter, but he's showing a lot of pace too and we wouldn't be worried about dropping him back to a mile. We would be looking at the Lockinge at Newbury and the Tattersalls Gold Cup for High Chaparral and Hawk Wing."

2,000 GUINEAS (Newmarket, 3 May): Coral: 7-2 Hold That Tiger, 9-1 Refuse To Bend, 10-1 Trade Fair, 12-1 Statue Of Liberty, Tomahawk, 16-1 Oasis Dream, Tout Seul, 25-1 others. Ladbrokes: 7-2 Hold That Tiger, 10-1 Refuse To Bend, Trade Fair, 14-1 Tomahawk, Tout Seul, 16-1 Oasis Dream, 20-1 others.