Speaking Of Which lands Airlie Stud Gallinule Stakes at Curragh
Speaking Of Which has collected plenty of praise following his emphatic win in the Airlie Stud Gallinule Stakes at Curragh on Sunday. Trainer D. K. Weld, in particular, lavished praise on his 3-year-old, saying that putting a visor on him was key to the
glory.
The spectators at Curragh saw the bay colt performing magnificently in the Group 3 event. After running keenly early on, the maverick runner did not lose his concentration and kept doing well.
A steady work in the middle stages helped him go fourth when entered straight. Under P. J. Smullen, the Moyglare Stud Farm-owned enhanced his pace significantly in the final moments.
A. P. O'Brien’s charge, Soon, tried to spoil his party, but an excellent work in the final few furlongs was enough for him to seal a comprehensive victory. Following a tremendous effort all the way through, Speaking Of Which ensured the top position by nine
lengths.
Under Ryan Moore, Soon did well to finish second on the table. His stable mate, Athens, beat Macbeth by a neck’s distance to seize the third place. The outcome was a huge setback for Crius, who was given the highest odds before the proceedings started off.
Under Richard Hughes, the 13-8 favourite attained a decent lead early on, but lost his advantage afterwards. As a result, Richard Hannon’s trainee finished sixth on the chart.
Enormously delighted over his colt’s fantastic triumph, Weld said: "We had toyed with running Speaking Of Which in the (Irish) 2000 Guineas, but we put a visor on him the other morning and it woke him up and sharpened him up. The further he went, the better
he went.”
"He's a big, idle horse and the visor was on him just to help him concentrate. We did it years ago with Go And Go (Belmont Stakes winner) and when he put the blinkers on, it transformed him, and the same with Brief Truce in the St James's Palace Stakes,”
he added.
The bookmakers quickly reacted to the result and gave Speaking Of Which the highest starting price for Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, scheduled to take place at Curragh next month.
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