Unfancied Ballydoyle juvenile upsets stablemate for 25/1 success

Aidan O'Brien's regally bred Celtic High King caused a 25/1 upset under jockey Emmet McNamara at Leopardstown today when beating his better fancied stablemate Nobel Prize into second place in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF (C & G) Maiden.

By Galileo, Celtic High Cross is out of 2012 English 1,000 Guineas winner Homecoming Queen, herself a half-sister to Arc winner Dylan Thomas, and today stepped forward from his previous unplaced run at Killarney in August.

Jockey McNamara produced the colt late on and in the end Celtic High Cross quickened well to lead inside the final furlong and beat stablemate Nobel Prize (back from 9/1 this morning in to 11/4) by a comfortable length and three parts.

Trainer O'Brien was at Ascot and jockey McNamara later said “he stepped up nicely from his first run and did things right, which was important, because he can sometimes be a little keen at home.

“Shane Hassett has been riding him out and he settled beautifully for me today. He travelled into the race nicely, handled the ground and stayed very well.

“It didn't look a bad maiden beforehand on paper with Jim Bolger's being rated 100 and we thought the runner-up (stablemate Nobel Prize) wasn't too bad either.

“It was nice improvement from him and hopefully he'll keep going that way.”

Quotes from Gary Carson