Cliffs Of Moher wins smartly for Ballydoyle

Ballydoyle’s Cliffs Of Moher entered the Classic picture with an impressive win in the Tote EBF (C&G) Maiden at Leopardstown today, winning well under jockey Seamie Heffernan.

The son of Galileo is, appropriately, out of a mare callled Wave, and today went clear of his rivals in the straight and in the end the 7/2 chance (from 6/1 on track) scored an easy five and a half lengths win over another well backed stablemate Orderofthegarter (11/4 - 9/4f).

Winning trainer Aidan O’Brien was pleased with the performance and later stated “he came on nicely from Cork where he was very green and suffered from stage-fright there.

“Today he jumped, got a position, travelled well and won nicely. He’s a nice colt and you’d have to be very happy with him.”

“We’ve always thought he’s a really nice colt and he stretched out well and finished well. He has plenty speed and could go for a Guineas Trial next spring.”

Cliffs Of Moher has some racing to do to compete and win at Group 1 level but, perhaps notably, follows in the hoofprints of similarly named top class Ballydoyle colts Rock Of Gibraltar and Giant’s Causeway.

By Tom Weekes, quotes from Gary Carson