Yucatan
Yucatan only finished third in the end in the Group 2 Mooresbridge Stakes, but there was a lot of encouragement to be gleaned from Aidan O'Brien's colt's performance.
Settled in second place early on behind confirmed front-runner Success Days, Seamie Heffernan sent him up on the outside of the leader as they raced to the home turn. It appeared as if he was travelling better than Ken Condon's horse as they raced up the home straight, but he had no answer as his stable companion Cliffs Of Moher swooped on the outside deep inside the final furlong. He was almost two lengths behind the winner in the end, but he was only beaten a head by Success Days for second place.
The Galileo colt was a top-class juvenile, he finished second in the Beresford Stakes and he finished second in the Racing Post Trophy. He shaped in the early part of last season as if he would make up into a high-class middle-distance three-year-old too, he finished third behind subsequent Melbourne Cup winner Rekindling in the Ballysax Stakes on his debut, and he was beaten just a head in the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial, but he didn't race again after that last term. He didn't run badly on his debut this season, his first run in almost a year, when he finished fourth behind Irish Derby and St Leger hero Capri in the Alleged Stakes at Naas, when he had Cliffs Of Moher a half a length behind him in fifth, and this was another step forward in a race that Aidan O'Brien has won eight times in the last nine years now. Regally bred, by Galileo out of triple Group 1 winner Six Perfections, he is relatively lightly raced, so he should be able to continue to progress, and he should do even better when he gets to race on even better ground. He holds some lofty entries, and there should be more to come from him.
Naas, 7th May 2018
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