Double delight for Twomey at Curragh
Deepone and One Look deliver to give trainer a day he’ll never forget
DEEPONE ensured a new name will go on the Alan Smurfit Memorial Beresford Stakes trophy as he provided Paddy Twomey with his first win in the Curragh contest yesterday.
Aidan O’Brien has won the Group Two a remarkable 21 times and fielded three runners on this occasion, all last time out winners and he had hired the services of Frankie Dettori for Navy Seal.
Colin Keane took the ride on Grosvenor Square while Gavin Ryan was on Chief Little Rock and with Joseph O’Brien running dual winner Stromberg, Twomey’s Study Of Man colt was almost fighting a lone battle against the O’Briens given the only other runner, Andy Oliver’s Ozark Daze, went off at 150-1.
With that possibly on his mind Billy Lee was ultra-positive on Deepone (3/1), who after winning his first two starts had finished second in a Listed race and fourth behind Diego Velazquez in a Group Two.
With two furlongs to run he had kicked almost five lengths clear and while the gap dwindled close to home, he still had a length and three-quarters to spare over Chief Little Rock who just edged out Grosvenor Square for second with Navy Seal and Dettori only fourth.
‘He’s a nice horse, he’s been a work in progress and we’ve been educating him,’ said Twomey.
‘I felt he had come out of the last race in great form. I said to Billy that I was going to run him again and he kind of looked at me but I said I felt he was in good form. He’s a strong traveller and he finds plenty, I think he’s a mile-and-aquarter or mile-and-a-half horse next year.
‘Hopefully for Vimal (Khosla, owner) he’s a Derby horse for next year and that’ll be it for this year now.
‘I’ve been dropping him in on turning tracks and there was plenty of traffic. I said to Billy “no nonsense today, get out there and let’s go and see if they are good enough”.
‘He put them to the sword and I think he’s a good horse.’
Paddy Power cut him to 20/1 from 33s for next year’s 2000 Guineas.
Just over an hour later, One Look fairly bolted up in the Goffs Million on debut to ensure Twomey had a day he will never forgot.
One Look landed some hefty bets at 5/1 in the seven-furlong contest, worth a massive €610,000 to the winner.
A filly by Gleneagles, she was smuggled into the race by Lee before sprinting clear.
With just over a furlong to run Aidan O’Brien’s Cherry Blossom and Dettori had fought their way to the front and it seemed as if the pair were going to enjoy another big race success together.
However as soon as Lee released the handbrake on One Look she put the race to bed in a matter of strides, winning by six lengths.
‘She’s a nice filly and she’s been a nice filly all year. I thought I would have run her earlier but it’s just the way it worked out and she was just ready to run this week,’ said Twomey.
‘I gave her an (Irish) Guineas entry on Wednesday. I thought she was ready to start and good enough to be competitive. The plan was to track Frankie and see how we got on.’
When asked if the winner could run again this year he added: ‘I
I said to Billy “no nonsense, get out there and see if they are good enough”
wouldn’t think so. That was a big performance to do that on debut. Maybe she’ll say yes but I doubt it.’
Ger Lyons’ Pipsy (11/4) had beaten all bar the classy King Cuan on her debut and made no mistake in the Bermingham Cameras Photo Finish Irish EBF Maiden under Colin Keane.
‘It was lovely and it was no more than you’d expect after seeing King Cuan, the first day in Cork and definitely the last day in Naas. He impressed me both times,’ said Lyons.
‘I said if she handles the ground she wins and if she doesn’t we’ll go to Dundalk – no problems.
‘Colin was adamant she’d handle the ground and that she’ll handle Dundalk so we’ll go for the stakes race up there, the (Group 3) Mercury Stakes, and then we’ll put her away.’
Yosemite Valley was an odds-on winner of the DMG Media Maiden for Donnacha O’Brien.