“It’s a nice surprise,” Seamie Heffernan said as he was led back after the Irish Derby here on Saturday, but in truth, it is becoming more of a habit. Heffernan, the number two rider at Europe’s number one stable, claimed the Irish Derby aboard the 6-1 chance Capri, edging out Cracksman by a neck with Wing Of Eagles, the Derby winner at Epsom, only third. Ryan Moore, Aidan O’Brien’s principal jockey and the rider of Wings Of Eagles, is still looking for his first Irish Derby winner. Heffernan, the perennial team player and first reserve, now has three.
O’Brien, who has now won Ireland’s premier Classic a dozen times, had five of the nine runners in this year’s race and they occupied the first five places for the first half of the race with Ana O’Brien, the trainer’s daughter, setting a solid pace on The Anvil. Moore and Wings Of Eagles, a 40-1 outsider at Epsom but the 2-1 favourite here, were settled in mid-division and travelling well, and though Waldgeist, the third-favourite, never threatened, both Wings Of Eagles and Cracksman, a close third at Epsom, moved towards the lead with a quarter of a mile to run.
Cracksman seemed to have the measure of Wings Of Eagles with half a furlong to run, but Capri and Heffernan had launched their own challenge from a more prominent position and secured a narrow but crucial advantage. Cracksman got to within a neck of Capri but no closer, while there was just a short-head between the second and third at the line.
“Seamus rode Capri at Epsom,” O’Brien said, “and he was looking forward to coming here with him. It’s the ultimate test over a mile-and-a-half for a three-year-old colt.
“The three-year-olds get sorted at Epsom to a point, and when you want to get to the real, proper mile-and-a-half horse, there’s no track in the world can do that like The Curragh. When you have an even pace on there’s absolutely nowhere to hide. All the form was there, and all the right horses were lined up at the furlong marker.
“Seamus gave him a lovely ride, he had a lovely position throughout and timed his run perfect. He’s been part of our family for 20 years now, he’s talented, dedicated and an unbelievable rider. What he did today wasn’t easy, the pace was on up front and it was strong and he was in the eye of the storm all the time. He had a choice, how close to follow it, and he knew all the fancied horses were behind him. It was a masterclass, really.”
O’Brien has now won 10 Group 1 races this season, and with Highland Reel, last year’s King George winner, to aim at the same race again at Ascot later this month, Capri could be one to save for the later part of the season. He was cut to 5-1 joint favourite (with Wings Of Eagles) for the St Leger at Doncaster in September by William Hill, the new sponsor of the British season’s final Classic.
“This horse has been busy, so in an ideal world he might have a rest for an autumn campaign,” O’Brien said. “He has plenty of options.”
Gordon Elliott, the leading trainer at Cheltenham’s Festival meeting in March, recorded his first Group-race success on the Flat as Beckford took the Group 2 Railway Stakes for juveniles, and the colt is now likely to line up for a Group One contest on his next start.
“The Phoenix Stakes [in August] is where he’ll go now, all being well,” Elliott said. “In the summer, [Flat racing is] something nice to do. It’s a bit of fun and something different but I’m a National Hunt man and you have to remember where your bread and butter is.**cut here for print?**
“It’s not something I’m going to be doing full time. We’ll definitely do it a bit more next year but National Hunt is my number one and nothing else matters, only National Hunt racing to me.”
At Newcastle, James Fanshawe and Tom Queally took their second big prize in the space of eight days when Higher Power stayed on best in the closing stages to take the two-mile Northumberland Plate. The same trainer and jockey were successful over six furlongs at Royal Ascot last Saturday when The Tin Man landed the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes.
Higher Power finished half a length in front of Natural Scenery, whose jockey Josephine Gordon had earlier registered the first Group-race success of her career aboard Koropick in the Chipchase Stakes.
