IT’S MAGICAL
Ballydoyle delight as they record a Curragh double
OFF the track since April, Magical made all to land the Group 2 Kilboy
Estate Stakes at the Curragh, providing Aidan O’brien with a welcome big-race winner and the first leg of a Sunday double.
The 5/4 favourite, forced to miss the Investec Oaks at Epsom due to a setback, stayed on stoutly in the closing stages to beat I’m So Fancy emphatically. Aidan O’brien suggested Magical could go for the Yorkshire Oaks next month or, alternatively, stay at a mile and a quarter in the Nassau at Goodwood.
The Ballydoyle double was completed when three-year-old Cliffs Of Dooneen followed-up his debut success at Bellewstown in the two-mile handicap.
With the exception of Magical, the top prizes at the Curragh over the weekend went for export, most notably the smooth success of Sea Of Class, trained by William Haggas, in Saturday’s Darley Irish Oaks.
Highlight of a superb Saturday treble for James Doyle (successful on Maries Diamond in the Anglesey and Larchmont Lad in the Group 2 Minstrel Stakes), Sea Of Class, which carries the familiar colours of her sire Sea The Stars, will run in the Yorkshire Oaks next.
Yesterday’s Group 2 twin-feature, the five-furlong Sapphire Stakes went to the Karl Burke-trained Havana Grey, ridden by P J Mcdonald.
And Colm O’donoghue matched Ryan Moore’s double, scoring on Jessica Harrington’s Chocolate Music in the two-year-old fillies maiden and the Michael Halford-trained Terzetto in the one-mile fillies handicap.
Meanwhile, Rachael Blackmore was the centre of attention in Tipperary, where she completed the first treble of her career but also picked-up two whip bans.
Blackmore’s treble was achieved on Theatre Dreams, Monbeg Chit Chat and Classic Theatre, all trained by Henry de Bromhead, who was also successful with Ornua in Newton Abbot.
But she received whip bans for her rides on Statistical (three days) and Classic Theatre ( five days).
With just a week to go before the seven-day Galway Festival kicks off, western racegoers will focus on tonight’s flat card in Ballinrobe.
And the O’brien brothers, Joseph and Donnacha, might double-up with National Wealth and Treasure Chest.
Fourth to Lethal Power on debut at Roscommon and third to Kisanga at the Curragh, National Wealth is preferred to the 80-rated, consistent but frustrating Active Approach in the Win Big With Tote Maiden.
And, placed in three of his four flat starts in 2016 and coming into the race on the back of a handicap hurdle success (off a mark of 113) at Kilbeggan, Treasure Chest might prove too strong for Jessica Harrington’s Holding Pattern in the concluding maiden.