Rumplestiltskin underlined her Classic potential with a win in the Robert H. Griffin Debutante Stakes at the Curragh yesterday.
Trainer Aidan O´Brien had already been on the mark with George Washington in the day´s feature event but he showed he has plenty of ammunition for the fillies´ races too with this daughter of Danehill.
The writing looked to be on the wall for the 11-8 favourite with two furlongs to go as Modeeroch had struck for home and Kieren Fallon was boxed in.
However, when the split appeared Rumplestiltskin quickened readily to settle matters in a few strides, going on to score by two lengths.
Cashmans trimmed her to 16-1 from 25s for next year´s 1000 Guineas and O´Brien was relieved to see the filly return to form.
'She is a beautiful filly but we were disappointed with her at York (when third in the Albany Stakes), and I don´t know why she ran badly that day,' said O´Brien.
'She has loads of options now and if all goes well, I would like to bring her back here for the Moyglare.'
Osterhase put himself in line for another trip to the Far East with an all-the-way success in the Patrick P. O´Leary Memorial Phoenix Sprint Stakes.
John Mulhern´s charge finished 11th in the Hong Kong Sprint last December and could be making another trip around the world following today´s short-head success.
After breaking smartly, the 8-1 shot was driven to the front by Fran Berry and managed to keep his nose in front throughout, although Jeremy Noseda´s Balmont was arguably unlucky not to take the Group Three prize.
Mick Kinane found trouble in running when trying to get off the rail in the closing stages aboard Balmont, with the pair leaving many long faces in the betting ring after the four-year-old was supported all day before being sent off the 9-4 market leader.
The eight British runners did well though, with Ian Semple´s Chookie Heiton taking third ahead of the John Dunlop-trained Kodiac, providing a clean sweep of the placings.
'Maybe as he gets older he likes some ease in the ground and there is a definite ease in the ground today - it is dead,' said Mulhern.
'I thought that he would never get the six furlongs when I walked the track on Saturday but on a flat track he had them all at it.
'Fran is keen to go for the Nunthorpe but that is only a week on Thursday and it might come a bit too soon.
'I´d prefer to keep him fresh and go to France for the Prix de l´Abbaye before going on to Hong Kong, if we get invited.
'I had planned to run him less this season and keep him fresh so if we got invited back to Hong Kong he would run better than last year.'
Tropical Lady has started to hit top form again and went one place better than 12 months ago with a smooth success in the Royal Whip Stakes.
The five-year-old mare headed into the Group Two race after seeing off two of today´s four rivals in the Meld Stakes at Leopardstown last month and she had no trouble in confirming the placings.
Kevin Manning made steady headway on the victorious 5-2 shot down the home straight and after a nip-and-tuck battle with Dermot Weld´s Cairdeas, who was carrying plenty of money having been sent off the well-backed 7-4 favourite, took the upper hand to score by a comfortable three-quarters of a length.
Latino Magic came from way off the pace to take third with Aidan O´Brien´s two runners - Solskjaer, last year´s winner, and Portsmouth - bringing up the rear of the field.
'She is a true professional and is going the right way,' said winning trainer Jim Bolger.
'We´ll probably experiment over a mile and a half now with the Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp her most likely target.
'She´ll probably run before then in the Blandford Stakes back here but no decision has been taken on whether she will train on next year.'
? PA Sport
