LISBON is a city of quiet contradictions.

ON a low-key, pre-Royal Ascot weekend, Aidan O’Brien and Johnny Murtagh doubled-up with two of Ballydoyle’s lesser-lights, Emperor Hadrian and Ferdinand Magellan, at Navan last night.

FERDINAND Magellan may not be the most obvious nap choice in the Peter O’Brien Landscape Maiden at Navan this evening.

FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy, especially while in Dublin, should respect the decision of the Irish people and not try to impose the Lisbon Treaty by any circuitous route.