Heffernan drops whip, wins another Derby

Seamie Heffernan wasn't letting the minor detail of dropping his whip spoil a first Cork Derby success today as last month's Epsom Derby hero landed the Munster version on the Joseph O'Brien trained Perfect Tapatino

Heffernan, a winner of three Irish Derbies, gained a famous first Epsom Derby success on Anthony Van Dyck at Epsom on June 1 and today completed a daily double at Cork when steering Perfect Tapatino, whose dam is a sister to top class racemare Bosra Sham, to a neck win over Massif Central

Heffernan dropped his whip with a furlong to race in today's race but the jockey, who began race-riding in the late 1980s, later quipped “I'm trying to improve my whip-style but I dropped it!”

He added “Joseph thought he was strong enough and mature enough now to go up in trip and he was hoping he'd run well and said to ride him forward. I'll leave plans up to the O'Briens and I enjoy riding for them.”

Heffernan earlier initiated a double for trainer Joseph O'Brien in the opening race with Royal Affair