James J Braddock comes out best in a thrilling Derby Trial at Leopardstown James J Braddock threw his hat into the Derby picture when coming out best in a thrilling finish to the Cashel Palace Hotel Derby Trial Stakes at Leopardstown. Just five went to post for this ten-furlong Group 3 event and Endorsement made most of the running under Ronan Whelan. The front-runner was tracked by his odds-on stablemate Pierre Bonnard who eventually worked his way into a narrow advantage inside the final 150 yards. However, James J Braddock responded gamely under Dylan Browne McMonagle and got up on the line to score by a shorthead at odds of 9/1. Endorsement was just a neck further back in third. Winning trainer Joseph O’Brien said, “He was tough. He ran a nice race here the first day and we thought he’d come on from the run. “We were a bit worried about the fast ground because obviously his maiden win last year was on quite soft ground. You’d have to say that he handled it well. “Before today we were thinking that he might be a horse for the King Edward in Ascot. That’s the race we were working towards, but I suppose we now have to consider other options as well. “We’ll see how he comes out of it and discuss it with Aziz Kheir. It’s the first horse we’ve had for him, and he obviously has a lot of horses in Australia. “This is going to be a horse that will hopefully turn up in top international races through the course of his career. Today was obviously a big step forward. “We’ve always thought he’d love going a mile-and-a-half.” When it was put to him that it looks like an open Derby he added, “It’s probably fair to say that. It looks like a relatively open race. “I thought some of those Chester horses looked pretty good in fairness, but it does look like an open race, and I guess this guy is one of the contenders now having won a trial. “If we did want to go there, he has earned his spot. I think we’ll just see how the next week goes and discuss it with Aziz, see how he pulls up and make a plan then.” When asked if he’d handle Epsom he said, “I think so, he’s a good traveller. He travelled very well today, and I think he potentially could.” Paddy Power cut the winner into 25/1 (from 100/1) for Epsom. Benvenuto Cellini is the 11/4 favourite. Quotes by Gary Carson
