Homebred Buckaroo looks Guineas horse

Tweenhills homebred three-year-old Buckaroo won a Listed race by four lengths at the Curragh on Monday and now looks a serious contender for the Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas there on May 21.

Buckaroo had finished in the frame in a Gr.1 at two and was narrowly touched off by Piz Badile – whom he’d also met on debut – in the Ballysax Stakes on his return before dropping back in trip in the Listed Tetrarch Stakes.

Sent off the 15/8 favourite against six rivals, Buckaroo was always travelling smoothly in mid-division under Shane Crosse and cruised to the front inside the final furlong. He had plenty to spare over Wexford Native and New Energy, with Listed 2000 Guineas Trial Stakes winner Dr Zempf only fifth.

Buckaroo’s trainer Joseph O’Brien said: “I was really happy with that. I took a bit of a chance coming back to a mile, but I thought he’d been working with plenty of pace, maybe more than I was giving him credit for in his earlier days.

“He looks like an Irish Guineas horse. He’s a big, strong, powerful horse and has quite a laid-back attitude. I discussed it with Sheikh Fahad and we decided to come here and find out if he was a Guineas horse.

“I see him as more of an eight to 10-furlong horse than a 10 to 12-furlong horse. He seems to be versatile ground-wise.”

The prospect of a clash with either of Godolphin’s first or second in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, Coroebus and Native Trail, is a mouth-watering prospect for the Curragh.

Buckaroo (by Fastnet Rock) is the third foal out of Roheryn, who won a mile-and-a-half Listed race in the June of her three-year-old year. She was also placed in the Gr.2 Blandford Stakes back over 10 furlongs. Roheryn has also produced 12-furlong winner Thousand Oaks (by Kingman).