Abbey flops on comeback

ST. Nicholas Abbey, off the track since finishing sixth to Makfi in last year’s English 2,000 Guineas, flopped in his comeback run at the Curragh yesterday, finishing a well-beaten third behind Unaccompanied in the listed geegeez.co.uk Alleged Stakes.

The Ballydoyle colt, winner of the Racing Post Trophy as a two-year-old, was sent off a red-hot 4/11 favourite but, ridden by Seams Heffernan, he was never able to deliver a blow and was beaten six and a half lengths behind the Dermot Weld-trained winner, fresh from a hurdling campaign which culminated in a creditable second in Cheltenham’s JCB Triumph Hurdle.

Having tracked front-running Mount Helicon, Pat Smullen delivered his challenge on Unaccompanied with more than two furlongs to race and quickly looked in command, the Danehill Dancer filly staying on strongly to beat Cilium by two and a half lengths, with St.Nicholas Abbey a further four lengths adrift.