The star three year old took his form to a new level on Saturday when bouncing back from a poor performance in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes to win the Group One Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on Saturday.
A horse with a superb pedigree related to the multiple Group One winner Magical, he started his career off when second over 7f at the Curragh behind Crypto Force.
Seen three more times since that run he has gone unbeaten landing a Maiden at Naas in July and off the back of that went to Leopardstown and took the Group Two Champions Juvenile Stakes.
Last seen as a juvenile on heavy ground at Doncaster in the Group One Vertem Futurity Trophy Stakes over a mile he made a mockery of the field to land the event by close to four lengths.
Back this season and first aimed at the Group One 2000 Guineas, it all went wrong when getting banged in running and on the heavy ground he ran no race.
However, after a master training performance by Aidan O'Brien, he returned to full form in the Epsom Derby when stepped up in trip to take Derby under a superb ride by Ryan Moore.
The Irish Derby was next on the agenda and he made it back to back Group One Successes, but when taking on the older horses was effectively pulled up when well backed for the Group One King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot.
Redemption for Auguste Rodin in a thrilling €1.25m Royal Bahrain Irish Champion Stakes! @BahrainTurfClub @LeopardstownRC#オーギュストロダン | #ディープインパクト | #競馬 pic.twitter.com/C3Hn7VEuxg
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 9, 2023
Having already blew out this season and bounced back, O'Brien had to work his magic again and he did just that with Auguste Rodin dropping down in trip to 1m2f and taking the Irish Champion Stakes from stablemate Luxembourg and Nashwa.
With a preference for the three year old to stay on a quicker surface, he could now have booked his ticket to Santa Anita in early November, with O’Brien believing that could be the perfect spot for the horse.
(Credit ATR) He said: The lads love the Breeders’ Cup and he’s a lovely horse for it. They will decide, but he’d love that ground.
“He’s a beautiful mover. He won in Doncaster on heavy and we couldn’t believe that he did it, but it was probably just sheer ability.
“We’ll take our time and see how he is, but I’d imagine it will be something like that (Breeders’ Cup).
”Luxembourg, meanwhile, could bid to better last year’s seventh in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
O’Brien added: “He could go to the Arc. He wouldn’t mind as long as the ground is not heavy, and over a mile and a half we know to ride him like a horse that just gets a mile and a half.
“He doesn’t want to go any further, but we are learning about him all the time. It was a massive run yesterday.”