Wilshire Boulevard opens account at third attempt

Narrowly denied over course and distance last Saturday, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Wilshire Boulevard opened his account at the third attempt when justifying odds-on favouritism in the Irish Stallion Farms Median Auction 2-Y-0 Maiden in Navan last night.

The hooded son of Holy Roman Emperor tracked the leaders before coming through strongly to get the better of market rival Candy Apples, prompting winning rider Joseph O’Brien to comment: “He has loads of pace and was entitled to win on his run here last week. He’ll be more effective on better ground.”

Joseph completed a double on a spare ride for in-form trainer Willie McCreery, when Glen Gunne finished strongly and got up close home to land the www.navangolfclub.ie Handicap. The champion-jockey was deputising for Rory Cleary, shaken and stood down for six days following a fall at Leopardstown on Thursday.