Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hit It A Bomb rsquo;s long awaited reappearance in the Group 3 Invesco Pension Consultants Desmond Stakes at Leopardstown today was upstaged by the similarly absent Tribal Beat which continued the excellent recent course form of his winning trainer Jim Bolger.

Hit It A Bomb had been absent since winning at Keeneland last October 30 and while the Aidan O’Brien trained runner looked likely to win with a furlong to race, was headed in the closing stages by Tribal Path, who in the scored a length and three parts win over Cougar Mountain Hit It A Bomb faded late-on to fill third place, a neck behind stablemate Cougar Mountain.

Bolger has now amassed 13 winners at the Dublin venue in recent weeks, following a pair of four-timers (July 7 and August 4), two doubles (July 14 and today with earlier winner McGuigan and a single winner on July 21.

Following Tribal Beat’s win, former Champion Trainer Bolger stated “he’s a good horse and a mile or maybe nine furlongs is as far as he wants to go. He has to have good ground or better.”

Regarding his layoff since October 24, he added “he was just held up by small little things - one little thing after another. We have had a good run with him for the last six weeks."

Trainer Aidan O'Brien later expressed his satisfaction with Hit It A Bomb, saying "Hit It A Bomb came there to win but he just got a little bit tired. He will improve plenty for the run and may come back here on Champions Weekend for the Clipper Logistics Boomerang Stakes over a mile. He will need a run or two to get him right.

"Cougar Mountain is a solid horse and ran a solid race."

By Tom Weekes, quotes from Alan Magee