Hudson River and Seamie Heffernan (left) winning the Barronstown Stud Irish EBF Maiden© Photo Healy Racing
Nearly unseated from odds-on favourite Snowfall in the first, Seamie Heffernan had a much smoother passage in the Barronstown Stud Irish EBF Maiden 2-y-o aboard Hudson River
The Galileo debutant, out of dual Nunthorpe winner Mecca’s Angel, broke well and Heffernan was able to set soft fractions on his mount as outsider Cursory Exam sat nearly upsides.
Hudson River, sent off 3/1 jt fav after being a market drifter, was asked to assert in the final quarter mile and readily went on to score from Aussie Ace and stablemate Wembley The other joint-favourite Lust was unable to land a blow having been held up off the pace.
The winner’s dam won 10 of her 19 races between 2013 and 2016, all over 5f, and Hudson River is her first foal.
Winning trainer Aidan O’Brien said: “He’s a lovely colt and was just ready to start. He could go to the (Newmarket) July meeting.
“He’ll probably end up a miler and it was a nice race to start him in.
“Padraig said his horse (Wembley) reared in the stalls and missed the break but I’d say he’s a very nice horse too.”
After his fourteenth victory in the Irish Derby, and looking to Saturday's Epsom Derby, O'Brien said: "All the (Irish) Derby horses were led out this morning and seem fine after their runs yesterday.
“I’d imagine Santiago will probably have a rest as he’s had two quick runs but we’ll see what the lads want to do.
“It’s possible that some of the horses that ran yesterday could be put into the (Epsom) Derby tomorrow and that’s including the horse that won the maiden (Serpentine).
“We’ll see how they are in the morning as it’s a ten grand entry stage at 12 o’clock tomorrow.”
“The Derby horses will all do a little canter tomorrow and then we’ll decide what to do.
“Mogul, Russian Emperor, Vatican City, and Armory are all possibles although Armory may go to France.
“Mogul was the (Derby) horse all winter and we were only going to get one run into him so we put him in the toughest trial. He was going to be exposed a little more and he’s come on a lot since. Whether he’ll be ready in time or not I don’t know. He’s lazy at home and is a big round horse.
“Vatican City is a brother to Gleneagles and you couldn’t be sure about him getting the trip. The Guineas was a slowly run race and he was going to the line like a tiger.
“Ryan will be given all the information that we can give him to make a decision (on what to ride).
“Love and Peaceful are both being trained for the Oaks and the fillies that were second and third at Ascot are possibles as well.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
