Navan report: Double delight for Aidan O'Brien and Ryan Moore
New York City and Ryan Moore win the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Navan on Tuesday.
Aidan O’Brien and Ryan Moore doubled up with long odds-on favourites Stone Age and New York City in Tuesday’s maiden action in Navan.
Rated 109 and runner-up at Group 1 level as a juvenile, Stone Age pulverised his rivals in the Tote Win Never Beaten By SP Maiden over a mile and a quarter.
The Galileo colt, sent off at 1-3, made every yard of the running, set a decent pace, and stayed on powerfully up the hill to beat promising debutant Active Duty by nine lengths, prompting Moore to say: “He had the form in the book last year and it was all very smooth. When I rode him last, in the Legardere, he didn’t handle the heavy ground. But he appreciated that good ground today. He’s a smart horse and doesn’t have to go a mile and a half.”
O’Brien’s representative Chris Armstrong confirmed that Stone Age will now be aimed at one of the Derby trials.
Consistent but luckless at two, 101-rated New York City registered a similar, wide-margin win in the five-furlong maiden, stretching clear from before the furlong-pole to score by seven lengths.
“He’s a beautiful, big strong colt and was entitled to win like that,” said Moore. "He’s straight-forward and, hopefully, will go on from here.”
Armstrong confirmed a return to Navan on April 23 for a listed stakes as the next step for New York City.
A Ballydoyle treble was denied in the concluding one-mile maiden when front-running favourite Sun King failed to cope with the Jim Bolger-trained newcomer Wexford Native, a son of Teofilo.
The pair dominated from the turn-in. And, despite his inexperience, Kevin Manning’s mount, a 5-1 shot, had the upper-hand through the last two furlongs, ultimately scoring by two and a half lengths.
“He’s a horse that has always worked well, but he’s very big and backward and needed time,” explained Manning. “It was a tough call today, from stall 21. But it was a good way to start.
“He had a good look around when I arrived alongside Ryan’s horse — he’s still very, very green. But he’s a horse with a big future, over a mile or a mile and a quarter.”
Recent Dundalk winner and 100-30 favourite Dartan, ridden for Matt Smith by Declan McDonogh, got the better of No Say Ever after a good duel to land the SP Or Better Guaranteed With Tote Handicap, scoring by a head.
Smith said: “Declan said that the trip (a mile and five furlongs) is as short as he’d want, that he was only getting going in the last 100 yards. He wants two miles. And he has a great attitude — he switches off and relaxes and then keeps finding. We’ll look at some of the better staying handicaps with him.”
Jessica Harrington struck with Supagirl in the 47-70 three-year-old handicap, the daughter of Pride Of Dubai digging deep to foil favourite Haroya by a length.
Her trainer said: “She’s a big girl and Shane (Foley) said that she had her ears pricked and was doing very little in front. She had plenty left and will have no problem staying a mile and a half. If she’s okay, she’ll run again at Leopardstown on Saturday.”
In the earlier handicap action, the Johnny Levins-trained, Donagh O’Connor-ridden Tai Sing Yeh, fit from a winter campaign on Dundalk’s polytrack, proved best in the five-furlong Tote Always SP Or Better Handicap, getting home by three-quarters of a length from Livingstone Range, with Teddy Boy a close third.
“He’s an old horse and the blinkers help him over that short trip,” commented Levins.
Meanwhile, apprentice Luke McAteer received a six-day whip ban following his win on Paul Flynn’s Scott Lang in the Tote Guarantee On All Win Bets Handicap.
