Curragh king O’Brien in Seventh Heaven

AIDAN O’Brien bagged a fifth Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh – but not with the horse many expected to gain Classic success as Seventh Heaven shone brightest at the Curragh.

Ribblesdale heroine Even Song was the pick of Ryan Moore and punters, but she appeared to run some way below her best as up front Seventh Heaven and Seamie Heffernan came to grab Architecture, who looked like giving Hugo Palmer back-to-back Irish Oaks when hitting the front under Frankie Dettori.

But it was not to be as 14-1 chance Seventh Heaven ran on strongly, with Architecture again having to settle for the runner-up spot at the top table after finding only O’Brien’s Minding too good in the Epsom version, in which the winner had been sixth.

The front two had occupied the same positions in the Lingfield Oaks Trial before Epsom.

The Yorkshire Oaks could beckon for Seventh Heaven, and O’Brien said: “Seamus was riding her work. He had second pick and wanted to ride her. I was a bit surprised, but Seamus had faith in her and he had been riding her.”

There is little doubt Mecca’s Angel has a bundle of talent and she firmly left behind her King’s Stand flop at Royal Ascot to deliver a high-class performance in the Kilfrush Sapphire Stakes. Michael Dods’ mare, who returned the 5-4 favourite, won this race 12 months ago before going on to glory in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, and that will be the plan again.

The Tin Man (11-4 favourite) was another to bounce back from disappointment at the Royal meeting as he ran out a narrow winner of Newbury’s bet365 Hackwood Stakes, weaving the field under Tom Queally like a class sprinter.

Trainer James Fanshawe is keen on the Sprint Cup at Haydock and was not ruling out dropping back to five furlongs for the Nunthorpe.

Godolphin can do little wrong at the moment and enjoyed another good winner as the Charlie Appleby-trained Scottish (10-11 favourite) made all in the bet365 Stakes. The Cox Plate and Mackinnon Stakes were flagged up as possibilities.

There was glory for one of the lesser yards at the Berkshire track, too, as the Jonathan Portman-trained Mrs Danvers (9-2 joint-favourite) maintained her unbeaten record in scooping the huge first prize on offer for the Weatherbys Super Sprint.

The winner went through the sales ring at just £1,000 but bagged a huge £122,925 for her efforts in the hands of Luke Morris.

At Newmarket, Franklin D (7-2 fav) was promoted to favouritism for the Betfred Mile at Glorious Goodwood after an emphatic success in the Nexus Infrastructure Handicap, continu- ing a great run for the Michael Bell team. And after a slow start to the year, William Haggas is beginning to hit his stride and enjoyed a 16-1 winner of the Listed Newsells Park Stud Stakes through Forever Popular.

Trainer-jockey brothers Dan and Harry Skelton each hit the 100-winner mark last season and again look set for a stellar campaign after teaming with the prolific Red Tornado (8-1) and Long House Hall (6-1 jt-fav) for a big-race double at Market Rasen.

But it was not such good news for Barry Geraghty, who suffered a broken right arm in a spill at the final fence in the Betfred Summer Plate won by Long House Hall. He will be out for at least two months, missing the Galway Festival.