Diego Velazquez digs keep to keep unbeaten home record Despite dropping down to seven-furlongs for the first time since winning his juvenile maiden over course and distance, Diego Velazquez shrugged off that inconvenience with a battling performance to win the featured Group 2 Romanised Minstrel Stakes at the Curragh. In doing so, the Aidan O'Brien trained four-year-old made it five wins from five starts on home soil. Conversely, the Frankel colt has yet to get his head in front when racing outside of this country. Given the question marks regarding the trip, Ryan Moore had the 11/8f up with the pace from the outset, tracking Wayne Lordan on California Dreamer. Ridden to lead over a furlong out, Diego Velazquez had to find plenty when strongly pressed by East Hampton inside the last 150 yards. To his credit, the O'Brien trained colt stuck to his task well to win by a neck. Aidan O’Brien said: “A mile is probably his trip. We were preparing him for Ascot and we had him in the stalls at Leopardstown, but he got upset and had to be withdrawn (from the Amethyst Stakes) and that upset his Ascot plan. “I wasn’t confident enough to tell Ryan to ride him as forward as he would have liked (at Ascot) because he hadn’t had a run. They only walked the first half of the race, so it was a non-event really. “We knew he would come forward a lot from then to today and he did well to win today over seven. He’s a brave horse and Ryan gave him a good ride. “He’s a very well-made horse — powerful, strong, a great walker. Physically as a specimen he’s a tank really. “We’ll go back up to a mile now for the Sussex or the Jacques Le Marois, something like that. “He’ll have no problem getting back up to nine furlongs or a mile and a quarter at the end of the season.” Paddy Power cut Diego Velazquez to 8/1 (from 12/1) for the City Of York Stakes. Additional reporting by Alan Magee.
