O'Brien eyes Futurity for Arcada

Arcada (13/2) had two previous runs under his belt before he contested the seven furlong juvenile maiden at the Curragh and he showed improvement to take the spoils for Joseph O'Brien.

The Rip Van Winkle colt raced from stall one and was soon pushed up to be prominent by Donnacha O'Brien. Blackhall held the lead on the outside as Arcada steered a path along the rail.

At the halfway stage Arcada held a narrow lead from Blackhall. The leader was ridden under two furlongs out and forged on as Taj Mahal and Capri attempted to close on him.

Capri (6/1) came with a good challenge in the final 100 yards to get to within half a length of Arcada who saw it out well. Taj Mahal, the 15/8 favourite, was a further half a length back in third.

Arcada's two previous efforts saw him take eighth in Leopardstown and fourth over course and distance.

Donnacha O'Brien said: "He's a fair horse. I let him gallop there and he stuck at it. I gave him a squeeze at the three and he picked up again. He was a bit more professional in the first half of the race.

"It's lovely ground, it's probably not far off yielding."

Joseph O'Brien added: "He had a very good run first time and we thought he'd be very hard to beat the last day but Donnacha said the ground was just too soft for him.

“It was hard to be confident as it looked a fierce hot maiden and there was word for a few different horses. We knew he was a good maiden but didn't know what we'd bump in to.

“We thought he'd make at least a stakes horse and it looks like it now. I'd imagine he's well entitled to take his chance in a group race now and he should get a mile.

“The Futurity would be an obvious next step.” Lightening Fast (5/2), the first Frankel to run in Ireland, was a bit slowly away and raced towards the rear. He made some progress to eighth inside the final furlong.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson