Tiger Moth blitzes O'Brien to a treble

Irish Derby runner-up Tiger Moth was different class to his rivals in the Group 3 over a mile and a half in Leopardstown.

The 5/6 favourite brought up a treble on the card for Aidan O'Brien who also saddled Monday in the Listed Ingabelle Stakes and Magical to retain her Group One Irish Champion Stakes crown.

Tiger Moth raced off the pace in fourth, half a mile out, but was swinging away under Ryan Moore and effortlessly closed on the leaders with three furlongs to travel.

He was given the squeeze to improve into second behind stablemate Cormorant in the final two furlongs and readily hit the front on the run to the business end.

The jolly stretched away in the final furlong and hit the line a comfortable four lengths ahead of Silence Please (12/1), who a neck in front of Up Helly Aa (16/1).

“He's a lovely horse. Obviously his last run was in the Irish Derby,” said Aidan O'Brien.

“We gave him a break, said we'd come back here and maybe have a look at the Melbourne Cup but he probably won't get in where he is. He's 8lbs below Santiago.

“I wasn't sure a mile-and-a-half was his thing and we would have been very happy going back to a mile-and-a-quarter.

“It was a strong run mile-and-a-half and we were going to find out today whether he stayed or not.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson