Shaftesbury Avenue steps forward from debut to open account Wayne Lordan made most of the running on the Aidan O'Brien trained Shaftesbury Avenue to win the Vintage Crop Raceday April 25th (C & G) Maiden at Navan. Third on his introduction at the Curragh on the opening day of the season, the son of Maxfield clearly benefitted from that experience. Sent off 2/1, the M Tabor, D Smith, Mrs J Magnier, Westerberg owned colt broke well and was soon at the head of affairs. Pushed along early in the straight, Shaftesbury Avenue was strongly pressed and briefly headed by Tashakour over a furlong out. Wearing first-time cheekpieces, the Ballydoyle colt rallied inside the final furlong, going on again to win by one-and-three-quarter lengths. Stable representative Chris Armstrong said: "In fairness, as you can see from him walking around, he's a massive, big horse and he just took time last year. "He had a lovely run obviously the first day. We thought, coming here, the race just fitted in - it was quick enough since the last run. "He'll make up into a lovely horse and we will just go gentle with him, probably give him a bit of time, might even come back here for possibly the Royal County over a mile and a-quarter. "He will make up into a stakes horse, but there's no rush. You see him - a massive, big horse, but he has got the makings of a nice horse. "Obviously his two runs, with the way the weather is at the moment, have been with an ease in the ground, but Wayne says he will appreciate better ground which is good so it gives you a lot of options." Additional reporting by Michael Graham.
