Racing: O'Brien in two minds over Hawk and High

Eleven days to go, and all Aidan O'Brien will admit is that the name of his best prospect for the 223rd Derby might just begin with H. After watching Hawk Wing and High Chaparral, the first and second favourites for the great race, go through a couple of routine Monday canters here yesterday morning, their trainer conceded that, yes, they were "two very eligible horses".

O'Brien genuinely does not know which will prevail at Epsom on Saturday week, or if either will. Hawk Wing, judged one the unluckiest Guineas runners-up of recent times, is the one with the class and the acceleration and the doubtful stamina; High Chapparal, winner of the Leopardstown trial taken by both of the last two Derby winners, is the one with the class and the stamina and the doubtful acceleration.

Those are the perceptions, anyway. O'Brien is not so sure. "If a horse like Hawk Wing, who has tactical speed, can travel within himself through a race then the distance will be no problem. But then again he would have no problem in coming back to the July Cup and if you say that then you wonder if you are asking too much for him to get a mile and a half. And High Chaparral has never run further than a mile and a quarter and he has such pace that you wouldn't have minded running him in the Guineas."

Got that? OK. What is undeniable, though, is that both horses currently look a million dollars. Hawk Wing, ridden by Pat Lillis and led by Louisville, powered up the four-furlong wood chip with the effortless grace and imperious look-at-me presence that makes him so well-named.

High Chaparral, smaller, lither, followed Ice Dancer at an easy lope with his lad Kanami Tsuge looking as relaxed in the saddle. Mick Kinane will have the devil's own choice when he has to bite the bullet at the end of next week.

The Derby is taken most seriously in this part of the world. The brass nameplates of the residents of the boxes here in an earlier Ballydoyle era bear testament to that: Nijinsky, Sir Ivor, Golden Fleece, The Minstrel, Larkspur, Roberto.

The first Blue Riband winner produced under the latest O'Brien regime, last year's hero Galileo, is now holding court at the second of the twin towers in the golden vale of Co Tipperary, Coolmore Stud.

It is not merely the value of the race, Europe's richest with a purse this year of £1.2m, that attracts. "It's the ultimate test of a thoroughbred," said O'Brien. "To win, a horse must have everything: class, speed, stamina, balance and acceleration. It's a big test, competitive and tough with no quarter given and one thing you hope is that they come out of it without damage.

"The pressure on the team here beforehand is probably more than most races because there is more at stake for the future than just the race on the day. We are in the business of producing stallions and a three year-old gets one shot at the Derby, and one shot only."

Horses at Ballydoyle practice for their days of days from an early age. O'Brien's predecessor and namesake Vincent had constructed a Tattenham Corner replica on his 600-acre training estate and today's inmates learn to balance themselves round a left-handed descent as a matter of routine as soon as they start working.

The original O'Brien entry of 62 has been whittled down to eight, a third of the present field, with a probable representation of three. Hawk Wing and High Chaparral are likely to be joined on the Surrey Downs by once-raced Louisville, winner of a Curragh maiden earlier this month. Of the others still nominated dual Guineas hero Rock Of Gibraltar, in any other stable a prime candidate, would head for Epsom only in the event of disaster overtaking the big two; Black Sam Bellamy and Diaghilev will run in Sunday's French Derby; Castle Gandolfo is a probable for the Prix Jean Prat on the same card; and Ballingarry will have a rest after his second in the Italian Derby two days ago.

Neither Hawk Wing nor High Chaparral will be seen early in the race. "They'll be taking their time, with no pressure put on them," said O'Brien, and added, typically fatalistic: "If they win, they win, if they don't, they don't." O'Brien regards the Derby as more of a beginning than an instant-fix end. "This is the race that sets the standard for a generation," he said.

"We've spent the first half of the season educating the horses and learning about them, at home and in trials. We'll only know which was the best trial after the Derby. It is the one that tells everyone where they stand, and what direction to go with their horses for the rest of the year and that's the whole point of it."