MOHER IN MAJESTIC TRIUMPH
Cliffs highlight of Aid hat-trick
CLIFFS OF MOHER returned to winning ways when bagging the Group 2 Coolmore Camelot Mooresbridge Stakes, highlight of a Naas treble for Aidan O’brien and Ryan Moore yesterday.
Last year’s Epsom Derby runner-up, sent off 13/8 favourite, came from last to first in a strongly-run race and, inside the final furlong, got the better of front-running Success Days.
O’brien suggested Cliffs Of Moher will be aimed at either the Coronation Cup at Epsom or the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh (both Group 1) while explaining Capri, a dual classic winner last season and successful on his seasonal bow, sustained a “bruised shoulder” when winning at Naas last month and is on the easy-list.
Ballydoyle won both two-year-old events on the card with Ascot-bound juveniles as Fairyland made a pleasing debut in the fillies maiden while Van Beethoven, beaten on his debut in Newmarket, made no mistake in the Irish Stallion Farms 2-Y-0 Race.
And O’brien suggested both horses are likely to have another run, probably at Naas on May 20, before heading for Royal Ascot.
Ger Lyons and Dermot Weld also hit the target in the stakes-race action, Lyons winning the Group 3 Athasi Stakes with Lightening Quick and Weld the listed Tetrarch Stakes with Imaging.
Lyons felt a Group 3 win for his Frankel filly was a bonus and explained: “She doesn’t show much at home and Colin said the first feel he got from her was going to the start today.”
Lightening Quick holds an entry in the Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas, but Lyons favours dropping her back to six furlongs in Leopardstown’s Ballyogan Stakes.
Boxed-in until late, Imaging (Declan Mcdonogh) displayed a fine burst of speed to get up and beat Would Be King in the Tetrarch, booking his ticket to the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas.
William Jarvis saddled his first winner in Ireland when Mrs Gallagher, a first ride at Naas and a first winner in Ireland for Josephine Gordon, won the listed Polonia Stakes, earning a crack at the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Meanwhile, Roscommon stages a mixed card this evening. And James Barrett’s For Pleasure, beaten at Limerick following a runaway win in Navan, is napped to bounce back, if ridden more positively, in the Roscommon Handicap.
If she brushes up her jumping, the Willie Mullins-trained Screaming Rose should win the concluding mares beginners chase.
And Burgundy Boy, last of four behind Nelson in the Ballysax at Leopardstown, should appreciate the drop in class in the opener and looks another likely winner for the Weld/ Mcdonogh combination.