FOUR-STAR O’BRIEN JUGGERNAUT ROLLS ON AT LEOPARDSTOWN—
FLAT racing is back and so is the Aidan O’Brien juggernaut which claimed the first four winners at accumulative odds of 907/1 at Leopardstown yesterday.
O’Brien bagged both Group 3 contests on the card, the first as Cormorant provided the Ballydoyle trainer with a staggering 13th triumph in the Group 3 Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, 22 years after Risk Material scored under Christy Roche.
Dual Derby-winning pilot Padraig Beggy judged the fractions to perfection on the 12/1 outsider, who staved off the challenge of stablemate and favourite Russian Emperor to claim the spoils by half a length.
Beggy booted the son of Kingman to the front and then steadied the pace before kicking for home off the bend to establish a gap that was to prove significant in the end, although the runner-up remains a likeable prospect with the benefit of further experience and another stablemate Iberia also showed well in third.
‘He’s a horse that ran plenty of times last year and ran to a good level,’ said Beggy of the winner. ‘Our horses have started in good form and any of Aidan’s, when you’re riding in a big race like that, it doesn’t matter the price, they have a chance.’
Seamie Heffernan had a double for his boss, Love Locket (6/1) taking the honours in the other group contest, the Leopardstown Fillies’ Trial with oneand-a-half lengths to spare from Know It All.
In what was an incidentpacked affair full of hard-luck stories, Heffernan stayed out of trouble with similar tactics to Beggy and once his partner opened up turning for home, the result was not in doubt.
Heffernan got the show on the road in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF 3YO Fillies’ Maiden over a mile and two furlongs on Ennistymon (11/8), owned and bred by Evie Stockwell, mother of Coolmore supremo John Magnier. The daughter of Galileo belied a 348-day absence from her promising second on debut with a gutsy effort, fighting back to deny Dermot Weld’s debutant Shamiyna by a head, having fallen behind inside the final furlong.
Tiger Moth (16/5) led home an O’Brien 1-2-3-4 in the Irish Stallion
Farms EBF maiden for three-year-old colts and geldings, getting the splits and exhibiting commendable attitude when requested to do so by Wayne Lordan, to battle his way to the front and win a shade snugly from stablemate and favourite Dawn Patrol.
Meanwhile Gordon Lord Byron died suddenly following exercise yesterday morning.
The 12-year-old, trained by Tom Hogan and owned by the Cahalan family, claimed 16 races from 108 starts — including the Minstrel Stakes and Greenlands Stakes in Ireland, as well as the Prix de la Foret in France and George Ryder Stakes in Australia.
PA