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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Oklahoma too hot for rivals

Wed 10th Jul 2013, 18:29

Oklahoma City clear in the openerOklahoma City clear in the opener
© Photo Healy Racing

Oklahoma City blazed a trail in the opening six-furlong juvenile maiden at Naas to run out a convincing winner.

Joseph O'Brien bounced out in front on the Oasis Dream colt and he was soon a few lengths clear of his rivals.

The others never looked likely to peg back the front-runner, who was asked for an effort under two furlongs out.

He stayed on strongly, as he was ridden from over a furlong out, and eventually posted a 13-length verdict over newcomer Bonjour Bob

The winner was a strongly supported 1/2 favourite in the four-runner event having been available at even-money this morning.

The Ballydoyle charge had shaped with promise, having been hampered at the start, when sixth on his Leopardstown debut behind subsequent Railway Stakes winner Sudirman.

“The visor must have woken him up and obviously he came forward well from his first run,” said Aidan O'Brien afterwards.

“We'll probably look to step him up in grade now. We could look for a Listed race or the Group 3 Anglesey at the Curragh (on July 20th) could be a possibility as well.”

The winning rider added:- "He won better than I expected and I probably should have had a look!

"The ground is very quick and that probably exaggerated it a bit but he is a nice horse."

The winner is from a classy family as his unraced dam is a half-sister to Kayf Tara and Opera House.

Racecourse manager Tom Ryan later confirmed that the winning time of 1m 8.34 secs was a course record for a two-year-old. The six furlong course record is 1m 8 secs.

(Additional reporting by Alan Magee)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.