Vespertilio with trainer Willie McCreery © Photo Healy Racing
Willie McCreery enjoyed a Derby Day victory at the Curragh on Sunday when Amazon Lady made a successful solo run up the far side to land the Rockingham Handicap and is looking towards races in France as the next targets for a couple of his other talented fillies.
Of his Group 2 winner and French 1,000 Guineas third Vespertilio, the Kildare man remarked: “She runs in the Jean Prat at Deauville on Sunday. “The ground went too soft for her in the Curragh (ninth in the Irish 1,000 Guineas), and I probably should have taken her out.
“She moves so well on good ground and she just can’t handle it soft.
“It’s quick in Deauville at the minute so hopefully they don’t get any thunder showers.
“I’ve always had it in my head that seven furlongs is her trip, the way she won the Debutante and ran a cracker in the Moyglare.
“I think she’s sharper and in time I wouldn’t mind coming back to six.”
Ocean Jewel fared better on Guineas weekend at the Curragh when winning the Group 2 Lanwades Stud Stakes but found underfoot conditions a bit too lively when down the field in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes at the Royal meeting.
Of the four-year-old daughter of Sioux Nation, McCreery revealed: “She had a little bit of sore shins after running at Ascot.
“She’ll go for a mile race in France at the end of the month and hopefully the ground will be okay for her.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
