Causeway battles home for Moore's four-timer and O'Brien's treble Causeway was made to work very hard by Zia Zabel before he landed the Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at the Curragh to bring up a four-timer for Ryan Moore and a treble for Aidan O'Brien. He was another victorious son of Wootton Bassett on this card and went off 5/6 favourite to scoop the €42,000 first prize. He got to grips with, and passed, Shaihaan with more than a furlong to negotiate, but was far from home as a staying-on Zia Zabel got more interested on the outer. Zia Zabel really came at Causeway in the closing stages, but the odds-on favourite always held a narrow advantage and maintained it to the line where he claimed the honours by a head over the 12/1 runner-up who earned plenty of plaudits. Shaihann dropped two lengths back in third at 10/1. O'Brien said: “We knew he’d stay very well. I left the cheekpieces off him today, when he was going up to a mile-and-a-quarter, and he is very lazy. “He (Moore) was very happy with him. We always thought as he went up (in trip) he would get better. “He’s a lovely, honest-to-God, horse. Ryan gave him a lovely straightforward, uncomplicated, ride.” When asked if he could be a horse for the Hampton Court Stakes at Ascot he added: “He’d have a penalty in that, but he could go somewhere like that. The good thing is that Ryan said he will stay further.” The winner also holds an Irish Derby entry and when asked if he could go there, he said: “He could - obviously, we’ll see what will happens in the next couple of weeks. He’s done his trial now. “He’s a hardy boy and he’ll only ever do what he has to do. When the cheekpieces go back on, they will be a help to him too.” O'Brien and Moore also teamed up with Sergei Diaghilev (4/6f) and Gstaad (4/11f) while the jockey was successful on Comanche Brave (7/4f) for Donnacha O'Brien. Paddy Power cut Causeway from 25/1 to 10/1 for the Irish Derby. Additional reporting by Gary Carson
