Big Break a good start for punters at Leopardstown

From her rails draw in one, the general view was that Big Break would have things pretty simple in the opening Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Fillies Maiden and so it proved as the heavily-backed favourite (7/4 this morning into 9/10) ran out a convincing winner under Pat Smullen at Leopardstown.

The sister to Famous Name had no luck in running on her debut at Galway but it was an altogether different story here. Always on the pace, the Prince Khalid Abdullah juvenile asserted in the straight and she crossed the line four lengths to the good from Monaco Mist

Dermot Weld trains Big Break and he said: "It was an impressive performance and she loves that fast ground.

"I'll speak to Lord Grimthorpe (the Abdullah racing manager) to see if we run her again. We'll consider the C L Weld Stakes which is named after my father. That's at the Curragh in a few weeks time.

"If the ground has gone though we'll put her away until next season.

"I see her as a potential English 1000 Guineas filly, she's very talented.

"If she has the courage of her full-brother (Famous Name) she won't let us down on many days."

Pat Smullen said: "It was the old story at Galway – first time out, a green horse, you saw how good she is there but she still got beat around Galway.

"She didn't have a hard race at Galway, I accepted it and luckily enough it paid dividends today.

"You can see that she's got plenty of temperament but her brother was the very same as a two-year-old so I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

"She'll be trained nice and quietly and I think she has a big future.

"The ground is as quick as she'd like and as is the case with Famous Name she'd appreciate a little ease. She did it well and she won the way I hoped she would."

Paddy Power go 25/1 from 33/1 Big Break for the English 1000 Guineas.

Big Break receives an introductory quote of 25/1 for the 1000 Guineas with Stan James. (GC & EM)