Joseph O’Brien has some lofty targets in mind for Queen Of Hawaii having watched her impress in the Newtownanner Stud Irish EBF Stakes at the Curragh.
Beaten on her debut, she looked good when winning her maiden at Leopardstown last month and was sent off at 100-30 against the favourite Sugar Island, from his father Aidan’s Ballydoyle stable.
The way the Kingman filly swept by Moments Of Joy, the Ballydoyle second string, suggests she is worthy of bigger targets.
Coral were impressed enough to give her a 25-1 quote for the 1000 Guineas and go 20-1 for the Oaks.
“She won her maiden well. She was very well bought by Philip Antonacci at Goffs,” said O’Brien.
“We thought she was a smart filly and you kind of come here to find out. She looks very smart and you’d have to be excited about her.
“She went through the line strong and Dylan (Browne McMonagle) said that she always feels like there is more in the locker.
“I’d imagine that she’ll either go for the Goffs Million or Fillies’ Mile in Newmarket. We could also look at the Moyglare.
“When she won her maiden at a mile we were looking at coming back to seven and having a look at the Goffs Million.
“We’ll see how she pulls up and discuss it with Philip and see. She’ll be heading for a Group One if it’s not the Million.”
Dermot Weld proved he is still a force to be reckoned with in major handicaps by producing Jagged Edge (22-1) to win the Paddy Power Supporting Cancer Trials Ireland Irish Cambridgeshire.
Having just the fourth run in his life and racing from 2lb out of the handicap, Weld employed apprentice Wayne Hassett to take a valuable 3lb off his back.
Handy throughout, Hassett managed to get his mount up right on the line to deny Genuine Article, who had also been up there all the way for Seamie Heffernan.
Weld said: “I’m delighted with this horse. He’s a big horse and he loves to be fresh. He won for us in Cork and looked like he was going to go on and he just lost his way a little bit. We left him alone and he’s come back nicely.”
There were several fundraising activities during the day in aid of cancer trials, the disease which took Weld’s former stable jockey Pat Smullen so cruelly.
He went on to say: “It’s great to see over a million being raised for pancreatic cancer. It’s such a wonderful achievement and I want to praise Frances Crowley (Smullen’s widow) for everything that she does, the whole team and everyone that contributes.
“It’s such an amazing achievement to be able to raise that kind of money and please God they keep raising more in years to come.”
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.