The Euphrates steps up to win his maiden under Heffernan

The Euphrates took a significant step forward from his debut effort last month when running out a comfortable winner of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden at Gowran Park.

Third at Killarney on his introduction, the Aidan O'Brien-trained colt showed improvement here, as he kept on strongly to justify 9/4f by half-a-length.

Held up by Seamie Heffernan in the early stages, as his stablemate Old Faithful cut out the running alongside Kolachi the colt looked in trouble entering the straight as Heffernan got lower in the saddle.

However, The Euphrates found plenty for pressure, coming with a sweeping run to lead over a furlong out before staying on well to hold the late run of Chantilly

Stable representative Chris Armstrong said: “He's a lovely colt and it's great to get another run into him.

“He had a nice run down in Killarney and that obviously stood to him. He's still a work in progress, he's got to put it all together but I think when he does he'll be a lovely horse next year.

“He'll possibly start off in a trial, he's a mile-and-a-quarter or mile-and-a-half horse. He's definitely a horse to look forward to.

“When he develops mentally and physically over the winter hopefully he'll be the finished article to start off next year with.

“He's a big shell and mentally a big baby. Once Seamus got into him he started to lengthen away at the line. It'll be next year before we see the best of him.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson