Crown pips stablemate Peppard in nursery Ben Coen was narrowly denied an opening race treble at Navan this afternoon as Celestial Crown pipped stablemate Prince of Peppard in a cracking finish to the nursery. Coen was to the fore throughout on 9/4 favourite Prince of Peppard and went for home a furlong-and-a-half from home on his mount, who jinked a bit right just inside the final furlong. The other Johnny Murtagh-trained runner Celestial Crown, in his wife Orla’s colours, stayed on well to press in the closing stages and just had her head down at the right time for a short-head victory under Seamie Heffernan. The 10/1 winner was making her third outing in handicap company having been well held in her previous two nursery runs. Heffernan said: "Ben Coen is one of the hardest to beat - he's very, very strong. "I thought he had won, I didn't think I got him. "My filly has had a lot of runs and she knows her job. She has got the experience, and it probably helped her today. "The ground was a big difference." (Quotes by Michael Graham)
