Purview shows potential with Orby Stakes triumph at the Curragh

“It was an excellent performance, he’s a lovely colt,” said Weld

Sat, 23 May, 2026 - 15:50

Gary Carson

Purview outlined his potential with a sublime performance in the Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes Orby Stakes at the Curragh.

Dermot Weld’s son of Kingman has always been held in the highest regard and gave the high-class Delacroix a fright on his first start at three before ending last season on a high with a comfortable victory in Cork’s Listed Navigation Stakes.

Returning at the same level but upped to a mile and a half, the Juddmonte-owned colt was sent off at 4-1 in the hands of Colin Keane and after travelling stylishly throughout, delivered a commanding six-length verdict when asked by his rider to seal the deal.

“It was an excellent performance, he’s a lovely colt,” said Weld.

“He has matured and developed as I always thought he would. We’ve a lot to look forward to with him.

“He’s always been operating at Group level and he was just a big, immature, horse last year. He’s just matured nicely over the winter.

“This was his first time over a mile and a half. I was always keen to try him over it. He settled beautifully, got a lovely ride from Colin, and you saw the rest.

“It’s something that we will reflect upon, discuss it with Barry (Mahon) and with the owners and decide (where to go).

“I think he’s a horse to look forward to. The ground is beautiful here at the Curragh today and that’s his ground.

“It’s a long year and we’ll plan his races accordingly.” It was Maurice Ahern’s Perry Mason (16-1) who laid down the law to his rivals to win the Keadeen Hotel Handicap in the hands of Leigh Roche.

Ahern said: “I’m delighted. He’s due that and he was knocking on the door in some big handicaps.

“He gave me my first winner here last year. I’m training exactly 12 months and he’s been good to me.”

Meanwhile racing at Haydock was switched to the inside course after Friendly Soul took a false step in the opening on Saturday, but only sprint races were allowed to take place with those on the round track abandoned.

John and Thady Gosden’s Group One winner was returning following nearly 600 days off the track in the opening William Hill Epic Boost British EBF Hedge Of Oak Stakes and appeared to go wrong under Oisin Murphy in the opening race.

However, after reviewing footage and following a subsequent inspection it was proved a hole was responsible for the misstep with racing on the outer track, being used for the first time on Saturday over the three-day meeting, deemed unsafe to continue.

A contingency was made for racing to switch to the inner track, used on both Thursday and Friday, but with not enough time to realign the running rails for races due to take place on the round course, only the feature Temple Stakes and Sandy Lane Stakes, plus the five-furlong William Hill Price Boosts Every Day Handicap would take place.

Clerk of the course Dan Cooper told ITV Racing: “In the first race Friendly Sould took a misstep so we asked our team to go and take a look at the surface as we would do at anytime and our head groundsman reported an issue was found.

“I suggested this is formal inspection grounds and we have looked at the track and decided there is a significant drainage issue and it seems to be a hole from our drainage system that has caused the misstep and therefore this wouldn’t be safe to race on today, that was my advice to the BHA.” A similar issue delayed the concluding race to Cheltenham’s Trial’s day fixture in January and eventually led to the flagship jumps course abandoning their final three meetings of the 2025-26 season.

Cooper added: “Driving down to the inspection I said I was amazed because we have lots of people walking on this track each hour and no one has gone down that (hole) yet.

“I wonder what does cause these things and it could potentially be the grass covering it as we do inspections every day and I walk this track frequently.

“We don’t know and it’s really hard and what’s the cause of it? Well it’s soil, it’s science, it’s drainage and quite a complex area.” He went on: “We went to have a look at the inside track as we’d been racing on it for two days.

“There were soft divots and the odd heavy divot on the inside that we were able to sand this morning so the stalls are going to go in the centre with the expected knowledge from the jockeys to not race on the inside.”