Aidan O'Brien's Darkness Falls puts down early marker for Derby
IMPRESSIVE: Darkness Falls, with Ryan Moore up, on their way to winning the HKJC World Pool Golden Fleece Stakes at the Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Darkness Falls proved a fitting winner of the inaugural running of the Group 1 HKJC World Pool Golden Fleece Stakes on day one of Irish Champions Festival at Leopardstown.
Third here on his debut, the Aidan O’Brien-trained Camelot colt bolted up at the Curragh a fortnight ago and was sent off the even-money favourite to take the step up in class and trip in his stride.
He did so in style in the hands of Ryan Moore, getting the better of Jesus Green by four and a half lengths to put down an early marker for next year’s Derby.
“He had a lovely run here the first time, in a maiden, and then he was very impressive at the Curragh,” O’Brien said. “Ryan said the trip is going to be no problem, he’ll get a mile and a quarter next year, he just has a lot of class. It’s an unbelievable race to have on here at this time and the distance was lovely for the first running of it, it’s going to be a very important race. All the good horses were there so we’re delighted.”
O’Brien added: “I’ll be hard for a classier Derby horse to come out. The way he did it the last day and the way he did it today, it was a proper gallop, there was nowhere to hide out there and Ryan eased out with him and quickened up really well. He’s very exciting.”
The opening race of the weekend, the Ballylinch Stud Irish EBF Ingabelle Stakes, saw six-time champion jockey Colin Keane claim a birthday winner as 5-2 shot Maire Rua showed a combination of talent and tenacity to get the better of Timeless Tale by half a length.
Victorious on debut over course and distance in July, the Frankel filly finished a disappointing third when 5-4 favourite at Cork last month but bounced back here to give Ger Lyons a fourth win in this Listed contest.
“It was no more than we’d expect her to do,” Lyons said.
“I didn't see what Colin felt at Cork. I was very disappointed walking out of the stands on my own and said to myself ‘you got another one wrong Ger'.
“Colin said no, that she was murdered. More to the point, he wanted me to re-do the stalls when she came home as she was that badly affected. That's more like I know I've been seeing.”
Asked if a wide stalls draw was a cause for concern ahead of the race, Lyons said the identity of her jockey offset any such worries.
“I don’t worry about the stalls draw with Colin, I never have done. I do worry about them with others but not with him,” he said.
As for the filly, Lyons intends to run her once more this season but will resist the temptation to have a crack at a Group 1.
“The ideal thing is to go Listed, Group 3, 2 and then 1 and see where the ceiling is,” he explained.
“She needs experience, so I definitely want to find something else between now and the end of the season. I'd love to go Group 3 now rather than diving into a Fillies’ Mile or something.
“I'd like to have one more run before I put her away with a view to next year.” Lyons didn’t have to wait long to double his tally as Krasimir got up late to thwart British raider Vafortino in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Sovereign Path Handicap, a brace he was keen to savour.
“We won the first four races on this card one year and I was guilty of taking it for granted and I said I’ll never do that again because we came here last year and we didn’t have a winner so to win the first two races, I’m delighted,” he said.
Paying tribute to winning jockey Reese Holohan, Lyons said: “He’s not a kid I know, I’ve been watching him from afar and as Kevin O’Ryan said I don’t normally talk to agents but I rang for him this week.”
Holohan said: “That is definitely the highlight of my career so far. I had an injury during the summer and I was out for six weeks but it’s great to be back and riding a winner on a day like this.”
