Porto Vecchio Dazzles on Debut The Dermot Weld-trained Porto Vecchio (9/1) made a smart impression with victory in the Juddmonte Lead Artist Maiden over seven furlongs in the opening race at the Curragh. The Frankel newcomer was keen throughout the contest, but travelled menacingly into contention under Chris Hayes and ran out a half-length winner from the Aidan O'Brien-trained Victory Speech, who got the hang of things late. Trainer Dermot Weld said: "He's a very progressive colt and I thought he'd run a very nice race. He hasn't been on grass this year yet, which is surprising for one of mine. This was his first time, so I thought he just might find it all a little bit strange, and be a little bit immature. He did it all very professionally. "He's a good colt. I think he's definitely stakes calibre. He's an own brother to Homeless Songs, who won the Irish 1,000 Guineas for me. I'd hope that we could build him into a horse that could run in the National Stakes, that'd be the plan for him. "My first two-year-old colt to run this year. I said a couple of weeks ago, when Purview won the Group 3, that we had some nice two-year-olds to produce in the coming weeks and he was the first of them." Quotes from John O'Riordan
