Yeats Back With A Bang

Yeats took an important step on the road to possible Royal Ascot glory when winning on his return in the Vintage Crop Stakes at Navan.

Last year´s impressive Gold Cup winner was always travelling smoothly in the hands of Seamus Heffernan, who only had to nudge his partner out to score by a smooth five lengths.

While this Listed race lacked the strength in depth on show at Ascot last June, the six-year-old´s victory will have been welcomed by Aidan O´Brien, who saddled Dylan Thomas to Group One victory at Longchamp earlier in the afternoon.

Yeats, sent off at odds of 1-3, tracked the pacesetters throughout the early stages but turned for home just off the speed and soon found himself bossing proceedings at the head of affairs.

Runner-up Reform Act (8-1) tracked him at the two-furlong marker but his run quickly faded as Yeats lengthened his advantage.

Cool Touch ran well to claim third at 12-1 for trainer Peter Casey.

'He´s a class horse and he won the way we wanted him to,' explained Heffernan.

'This is a proper horse and he just came on the bridle for me two furlongs out.'

Jim Bolger warmed up for next weekend´s high-profile meeting at Newmarket when landing a near 97-1 treble at the Irish venue.

The County Carlow handler will soon have bigger fish to fry as respective 1000 and 2000 Guineas candidates Finsceal Beo and Teofilo contest the upcoming Classics.

However, Sunday´s triple strike with Let Me Shine, Asafa and La Conquistadora gave the yard a timely boost.

Stable jockey Kevin Manning was on board the last two winners, while 5lb claimer Davy Moran showcased his talents on Let Me Shine.

The most notable of Bolger´s successes came when La Conquistadora made just about all the running to lift the Coolmore Ad Valorem Fillies Race.

Sent off the 11-4 second favourite, the daughter of Pivotal was quickly into her stride and looked home and hosed entering the final furlong.

Although 11-2 chance Ela Enta got to within a neck at the line, Bolger´s filly always looked like holding on.

O´Brien chose this contest to unleash the choicely-bred Cherry Hinton ? a half-sister to the brilliant Galileo.

The mount of Heffernan was weak in the market ? drifting to a starting price of 4-1 ? but ran with great promise to finish third.

(C) PA Sport