Bubbling and Wayne Lordan© Photo Healy Racing
In a departure from recent seasons, Aidan O'Brien looks the trainer to follow in juvenile maidens at Galway this week, maintaining a perfect record in that division as Bubbling made it two from two for the stable when easily winning the COLM QUINN BMW Irish EBF Fillies Maiden.
While O'Brien has introduced some smart two-year-olds at the meeting over the years, his runners often tended to improve for the experience as the Dermot Weld trained juveniles held sway.
Fourth on her racecourse debut at Leopardstown earlier this month, Bubbling clearly benefitted from that introduction as she justified strong late support in impressive fashion.
Tracking the pace in fourth over the first half-mile, Wayne Lordan travelled noticeably well three furlongs out as he waited for a gap to appear.
Sticking to the inside rail entering the straight, he got a dream run through on the 13/8f, heading leader Abazaami over a furlong out before skipping clear to win by five lengths. Lady Mairen stayed on late for second under Billy Lee, with the early leader Abazaami back in third under Andrew Slattery.
Stable representative Chris Armstrong reported: "She obviously had an eye-catching run the last day at Leopardstown and the form has worked out well. She made eye-catching progress in the last half-furlong then and really hit the line hard.
"She is a typical No Nay Never, has lots of natural pace, she really quickened right to the line and Wayne gave her a lovely ride. She really sprinted the last furlong and while she is still a bit babyish, that trip is perfect for her.
"She is bang in the mix for the Debutante Stakes now and for all those good seven furlongs races. We had her brother Wichita but we ended up never seeing his full potential so this is an exciting filly to have.
"When you look down through the roll of honour at Galway, it is a good track for educating horses, you need a proper one to win and Kyprios won here many years ago."
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
