Carla takes the Oaks Trial at Naas

Carla Bianca followed up on her recent maiden win at Navan as she took the feature at Naas this evening, the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Naas Oaks Trial.

The grey daughter of Dansili finished just three parts off the mighty Australia on her debut at the Curragh last year before finishing a good fourth in the Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes again at the Curragh.

She disappointingly failed to get off the mark on her next two outings at Dundalk and Naas, but she finally shed her maiden tag at Navan earlier this month, impressively scoring by five lengths.

Available at 11/4 in a place this morning she opened on-course at just 7/4 before going off the 13/8 second favourite.

Having raced mainly in fourth she was ridden to challenge on the outer with two furlongs to race, hitting the front before the furlong pole and keeping on well from there to score by three parts of a length. Palace who was sent off the 6/4 favourite, finished second for Aidan and Joseph (a pound overweight) O’Brien, while Circling was just a nose back in third under Wayne Lordan for David Wachman at 5/1.

Dermot Weld said afterwards: "She did it nicely as expected. I thought she was impressive at Navan and she's continued to progress.

"The ground is vital to her as she's a long striding filly who loves top of the ground.

"She's been progressing since the spring and was a bit slow to come to hand.

"We'll look for a Group race now, that’ll be the next port of call. I think that might be her trip (1m 2f) as she has a lot of pace.

"She has grown up and matured a lot and is enjoying her racing. When they are doing that they win."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson