Racing Curragh report: The Curragh's mile maiden might have been worth only a fraction of the Park Stakes and the Levy Stakes yesterday but it unveiled what may yet prove to be the exceptional talent of Yeats.
The Sadler's Wells newcomer sauntered to an impressive four-length success but equally significant were the enthusiastic noises made by Aidan O'Brien afterwards.
"He's a beauty," he praised. "A proper beast all the way. We have always planned to go the Galileo route with this horse, one run at two for a bit of experience, and then put him away."
Since the "Galileo route" eventually consisted of two Derbys and a King George, there is no disguising the significance of O'Brien already talking about next April's Ballysax Stakes, the established kick-off race for his top Derby colts.
It was enough for one firm, William Hill, to slap a 20 to 1 Epsom Derby quote on Yeats who carries the same name as a Nijinsky colt trained by Vincent O'Brien in the late 1970s.
That Yeats wound up a sire in Australia: time may prove there is no limit to where the current version can go.
Dermot Weld saddled the odds-on Misty Heights for the CL Weld Park Stakes, named after his father, but the 10 to 1 Venturi stopped the Group Three staying in the family.
Richard Hughes produced the winner late to provide trainer David Wachman with a first Group success and the 23rd winner of a productive campaign.
"She may run again this autumn. There are Group races on the continent she may go for," said Wachman.
Weld again had to settle for the runner-up spot in the €200,000 Foal Levy Stakes as Favourite Nation couldn't cope with the English raider, Sutter's Fort, inside the final furlong.
It was a second big juvenile pot in three days for the Jamie Spencer-David Loder combination after Byron's Mill Reef success and one that Loder partially attributed to the race distance.
"Six and a half furlongs is an unusual distance but it's just about perfect for him. He had to have a stalls test after his second run but he has gone the right way and everything's gone right for him today," Loder said.
It wasn't a good day for the Weld camp all round as Multazem was run out of the Listed Diamond Stakes in the closing stages by Napper Tandy.
Yeats may have been the star Ballydoyle two-year-old on show but they also won the six-furlong maiden with Amalie Bay who had thrown away a winning chance on his Tralee debut.
Michael Kinane got him home this time by a short head and O'Brien said: "To be fair he needs further and the last day was down to greenness."
Eddie Lynam's day had at least one highlight when Emmas Princess provided the 18-year-old Co Armagh jockey Brian Hughes with a fourth winner in the apprentice handicap.
