Joseph O'Brien © Photo Healy Racing
Once the penny dropped Ruler Of The World showed a good turn of foot to wear down Manalapan in the three-year-old maiden and give Aidan and Joseph O’Brien a double at the Curragh.
The winning distance at the end of a mile and a quarter was a comfortable three parts of a length and Aidan O’Brien thinks he could be a horse with a future: “I’m delighted with that horse. He had a few little setbacks and that’s why he didn’t run at two.
“He’s lazy and he just does what he has to. We’ll step him up gradually. He’ll go for a conditions race next and we’ll go gently with him.
“He’s a lovely horse, a sleepy horse and there could be anything in there.”
Manalapan had forged on for home and only got caught close to the home. He was returned at 25/1 and was seven and a half lengths clear of St Jean in third also at 25/1.
Hudson’s Bay was the uneasy even money favourite (8/15 in morning trading). He had been fractious in the parade ring and reluctant to load and finished fourth.
There was an on course gamble on John Oxx’s unraced Jumaira Tower – 16/1 to 6/1. However, he was never dangerous in eighth.
Aidan and Joseph O'Brien had a Curragh double with Moth and Ruler Of The World.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
