Battle Of Marathon quickens up to win nicely

Despite drifting in the betting market, Battle Of Marathon showed plenty of dash in winning the juvenile maiden over six furlongs at Leopardstown.

Having opened at 11/2 Aidan O’Brien’s colt was relatively friendless in being returned at 7s. This was a step up on his debut performance when seventh of eight in a five furlong Tipperary maiden won by subsequent Queen Mary heroine Anthem Alexander.

In today’s encounter he tracked stablemate Rule The Waves in the final furlong before powering clear with 200 yards to race. He had two and three quarter lengths in hand of the staying on I Will Excel (9/4 favourite).

Rule The Waves was two and a quarter lengths further back in third at 6/1. The gamble of the race was Just A Penny from 12s this morning down to an SP of 9/2. He came home sixth.

Successful jockey Colm O’Donoghue said: “The step up to six furlongs helped him compared to the five in Tipperary in what turned out to be a very good maiden with the Queen Mary winner in it. He’ll improve a lot for racing. It’s good to firm, but it is beautiful ground.”

Battle Of Marathon, a son of War Front, holds Group 1 entries in the Phoenix and National Stakes and a Group 2 entry in the Railway Stakes.

Additional reporting by Alan Magee