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Crusade conquers all

Sun 28th Aug 2011, 14:52

Crusade and Colm O'Donoghue burn off their rivals at the Curragh
Crusade and Colm O'Donoghue burn off their rivals at the Curragh
(Healy Racing Photos)
Aidan O’Brien’s Crusade stepped up on his debut mid-division finish at York to comfortably beat 15 rivals in the opening six furlong two-year-old maiden at the Curragh.

The American-bred colt who holds a host of Group race entries came home eighth of 17 at York but showed the benefit of that experience today.

He was sent off the 5/2 favourite and was always prominent throughout before kicking clear under Colm O’Donoghue a furlong out to score by two lengths.

Pearl In The Sand (3/1) edged out Gush at 13/2 by a neck for the runner-up spot.

“I’m delighted with him. He came on nicely for his first run,” Aidan O’Brien said of his charge.

“We sent him to York first as I thought he was a nice horse.

“He was a bit green but came on nicely for it. We’ll look at the Blenheim Stakes or something like that. We’ll see how he is.

“This came up a little bit quick after York but it was a nice race for him.”

Gamble of the race was Paul Deegan’s unraced Tamam Namoose (entered in the Group 1 National Stakes) who was heavily supported from 20/1 to 7/1 but the son of Exceed And Excel never landed a blow in coming home seventh.

Dermot Weld’s Swerve (7/1) showed up in the front rank for a long way before fading to finish fourth.

Michael Graham

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