Saracen makes impressive debut to win opener at the Curragh

The Joseph O'Brien trained newcomer Saracen belied his inexperience to run out a comfortable winner of the opening Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at the Curragh.

Despite proving rather weak in the market (15/8 to 3/1), the Siyouni colt looked thoroughly professional on this introduction, doing everything right under jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle.

Breaking smartly, Saracen held the box seat early on, tracking the leaders Pickersgill and Full Power With the latter coming under pressure before halfway, McMonagle went second behind Pickersgill.

Pushed along to lead over a furlong out, Saracen kept on strongly to win by four lengths.

“He was impressive, he's a nice colt and had been showing up well at home,” said Joseph O'Brien.

“He was going to make his debut a few weeks ago but just had a little setback.

“He quickened up really smartly there and looks like a smart horse for next season.

“I'm delighted to have, what potentially looks like, a good horse for Al Shaqab and the team. They've been good supporters of ours.

“This guy will come back for a Guineas trial in the spring.

“We were a little bit worried about ground conditions but you have no choice at this time of year. We were hopeful that he'd cope with them but given his pedigree and how he looks I'd expect him to be better on a faster surface.

“Obviously he'll have no problem going a bit further as well, given his pedigree.

“He's a smart colt and Dylan said he felt like he has a lot of speed.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson.