O’Briens rule at Navan

AIDAN and Joseph O’Brien dominated yesterday’s action at Navan, where Aidan notched a spectacular four-timer, only one of them ridden by stable-jockey Johnny Murtagh, while Joseph completed the first treble of his career on Fosters Cross, Eirnin and Table Mountain, the latter pair trained by his father.

The one-mile maiden for two-year-old colts, won four years ago by subsequent Irish Derby victor Soldier Of Fortune, saw Exodus, ridden by Seamus Heffernan, bounce back from an odds-on defeat at Listowel to record and impressive all-the-way win.

Heffernan bounced the Montjeu colt out of the stalls smartly, dictated the pace and was in command with more than two furlongs to race as his odds-on stable-companion Pirate Chief (Johnny Murtagh) laboured to finish a well-beaten third.