Hands on History is a multimedia series produced in partnership with the Breeders' Cup highlighting past Breeders' cup champions through personal anecdotes from the caretakers and farm teams who know them best. View past editions of the series here. Eva Haller will be the first to admit she wasn't the only person at Coolmore captivated by a young Auguste Rodin. But listen to her speak of her former charge and it's clear no one championed him with fiercer conviction.“What made him different to me was his attitude toward his work and the enthusiasm he showed from the start to get his work done and do it properly,” recalled the horsewoman who broke in the future champion. Now a six-time Group 1 winner wrapping up his second season at stud, Auguste Rodin was slated for stardom long before he sported the Coolmore silks.His dam Rhododendron (Galileo), a three-time Group 1 winner, 2017 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf runner-up and a full-sister to Magical, was among a small group of Coolmore mares sent to Japan in 2019. She was bred to 11-time champion sire Deep Impact.“Auguste Rodin is from the last crop of Deep Impact, who they tragically lost the year the mare was out there,” said Mark Byrne, Coolmore's Nominations Director. “Most of the mares foaled out there, but Rhododendron was brought back and so Auguste Rodin is one of the very few that actually foaled here and went through the full Coolmore system. Aidan O'Brien said he brings two continents together. He's by Deep Impact, who was an absolute breed-shaping stallion, and he is out of one of best Galileo mares.”When Auguste Rodin arrived in late January, he carried the weight of his regal pedigree with a steady composure.Sebastian l'Allinec, a Mare and Foal Area Manager at Coolmore, met Auguste Rodin when he was four days old. He described the dark bay with the striking face as “straightforward, a good mover, very quiet and very calm.”Martin Fogarty, who took charge of the youngster when he was weaned and sent to the Barrettstown yard, agreed that Auguste Rodin was never one to cause any sort of trouble.“He was just one of those quiet lads,” he recounted. “He was a good one, but there were a lot of good ones there.”Even so, Auguste Rodin separated himself from the crowd enough to earn a spot in Walsh's Yard, the destination reserved for the top 20-some yearling colts every year. It was here that Haller began her hands-on work with him.She remembers how, from the beginning, the colt would wait eagerly at the front of his box when she showed up with tack in hand.“He was just so keen to get out there and his fluidity of movement was something I hadn't seen before,” she described. “I even had the other lads take him for a morning just because I've never felt anything like that before. It was pretty incredible.”Auguste Rodin as a foal | photo courtesy CoolmoreIt was a bittersweet goodbye for Haller when Auguste Rodin departed her care for Ballydoyle in November of his yearling year. But seven months later, she was on hand at the Curragh to watch his debut. While the Aidan O'Brien trainee settled for second that afternoon, he returned a month later to graduate with 'TDN Rising Star' honors.Haller went to see her former pupil perform again a year later for the G1 Epsom Derby. After back-to-back wins in the G2 Champions Juvenile Stakes and G1 Futurity Trophy Stakes, Auguste Rodin was coming into the race off a disappointing performance in the 2,000 Guineas. He bounced back with a dramatic victory, running down King Of Steel (Wootton Bassett) in the final strides.“It was just the most special day to see it in person,” Haller recalled. “With the way he quickened, he showed such fighting spirit in the final furlong.”After adding two more Group 1 victories that summer, Auguste Rodin was the one to beat in the 2023 Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita. Jockey Ryan Moore expertly navigated a chequered trip along the rail and his mount burst through an opening at the perfect moment. As Auguste Rodin crossed the wire to secure a three-quarter-length victory in California, a contingent of Coolmore horsemen raised the rafters back home in Tipperary.“It's a tradition on Breeders' Cup night that we have dinner and a few drinks with the team,” said l'Allinec. “When he won the Breeders' Cup, it was like he won the World Cup. Especially when you've known the horse since he was four days old, you get attached to these horses.”Among the crowd celebrating that night was Darren Flynn, Coolmore's Head Stallion Man. While he knew then that the champion was destined to join the stallion roster, the homecoming was delayed when Auguste Rodin was sportingly kept in training for a 4-year-old campaign. When the superstar finally returned home to stand at stud, Flynn quickly noticed the same traits his early handlers had praised.Auguste Rodin wins the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Turf | Breeders' Cup Eclipse Sportswire“He's a gentleman,” he described. “He's got a great mind, is very intelligent and easygoing.”With his first foals on the ground and his second northern hemisphere season at Coolmore drawing to a close before he heads south to Windsor Park Stud, Auguste Rodin's stallion career is off to a flying start.“He's very professional and loves his job, so he makes life a lot easier for us,” said Flynn. “He takes the pressure off us.”Haller, who works in the registrations department when she isn't hands-on with the yearlings, is thrilled to be based just across the road from her star pupil.“I was just over there last week,” she shared. “I get to see him a good bit.”Having moved from her home in Germany to work at Coolmore 20 years ago, Haller finds that forming these foundational bonds with young horses, and watching them achieve greatness on the world stage, drives the lifelong passion she and her colleagues share for their craft.“You get to have a bit of an influence over them,” she explained when asked about her affinity for the yearlings. “I feel like if you come to them with positivity, they reward you in some ways. They are just like children, really. My mom was a primary school teacher. She always compares it to that because they're just like little adolescents. They don't really know anything, but they get so much better with handling.”Even in a powerhouse ecosystem like Coolmore, certain horses leave an indelible mark on the hands that raised them.For l'Allinec, one such standout is 2022 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf victress Tuesday (Galileo), who is currently in foal to Coolmore's new sire Delacroix. For Fogarty, the Galileo-sired duo of Found and Minding who beat males in Group 1 races hold a special place.And for Haller, the wheel continues to turn with Gstaad (Starspangledbanner), another talented colt she once broke who has gone on to win the 2025 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and this year's G1 Irish 2,000 Guineas. Having recently finished second in the G1 St James's Palace Stakes, he appears poised to become the latest graduate to return home for his next chapter.The post Hands On History: Lessons with a Champion at Coolmore appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.