O'Brien turns up the heat as Order Of Australia headlines treble
The weather was already tropical at the Curragh before Aidan O'Brien turned up the heat a couple of notches with a treble.
Order Of Australia, last season's Breeders' Cup Mile winner, barely broke a sweat when winning the Group 2 Romanised Minstrel Stakes under Ryan Moore.
He may have failed to spark in the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot but the four-year-old showed he is a horse to be reckoned with in the major races over a mile this season, with his trainer eyeing a tilt at the Group 1 Qatar Sussex Stakes at Glorious Goodwood on July 28.
"He has plenty of speed and is able to quicken. Ryan was happy going out that, if someone wanted to give him a lead, he’d take it, and if not, he was happy to make his own running," said O'Brien.
"He’s made like a sprinter-miler – at halfway he really started to turn it on and Ryan gave him a good ride. He’s a horse that takes his racing well so we were thinking of coming here and then going for the Sussex Stakes. He has plenty of speed and gets a mile well. He can go to the US later in the year and maybe races after that too."
O’Brien took the fillies’ maiden with a potentially smart sort in Concert Hall. A daughter of Dubawi out of former Oaks heroine Was, Concert Hall looked in trouble over a furlong out, but showed a tremendous attitude late on to get back up and win by half a length.
O’Brien said: "She's tough and genuine. Her dam won the Oaks so this filly should stay middle-distances in time. She could come back for the Debutante Stakes in August or something like that.”
The O’Brien-Moore treble was completed when Yarrawonga battled best to take the 1m4f maiden, denying Joseph O'Brien a treble after his successes with fillies I Siyou Baby and Emphatic Answer.
Matron in mind Insinuendo
The Willie McCreery-trained Insinuendo landed hefty bets when justifying 11-8 favouritism in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes.
The race got off to a rocky start for those who backed Oodnadatta – and there were many – as the Jessica Harrington-trained filly unseated Shane Foley leaving the stalls and caused her share of annoyance to Angel Power at the rear when running loose.
Insinuendo produced a career-best performance and McCreery revealed his stable star could be aimed at the Matron Stakes, in which he recorded his first Group 1 with Fiesolana in 2014.
The trainer said: "This race has always been the plan after she won her Group 3 at Naas. She's a big honest filly and we're delighted with her. She’s in the Matron Stakes and we might travel as well."
He added: "Billy [Lee, jockey] felt she moved beautifully on the ground. He thought it was a bit quick for her coming down the hill but everywhere else she was perfect. She travelled lovely and Billy always felt he was going to get to them. She did it well and just idled a bit once she hit the front."
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