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Donal Murphy

Donal Murphy

Colours record first success since joining O'Brien

Sun 12th Aug 2018, 16:46

Speak In Colours leads home his rivals under Donnacha O'BrienSpeak In Colours leads home his rivals under Donnacha O'Brien
© Photo Healy Racing

Speak In Colours recorded his first success since joining Joseph O'Brien, as he took the Group 3 Qatar Racing & Equestrian Club Phoenix Sprint Stakes.

Twice successful in the UK when trained by Marco Botti, the son of Excelebration was beaten by just a short head on his debut for O'Brien at Navan in April.

He was then third in a Group 3 at Naas, before finishing fourteenth of twenty-two in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

Sent off at 4/1 this afternoon, the grey victor raced towards rear early on under Donnacha O'Brien.

He took closer order from halfway and was ridden to challenge from the two furlong pole, hitting the front from a furlong out before going on to score by a length and a quarter.

The ten-year-old Gordon Lord Byron (10s to 8s) finished second under Billy Lee for Tom Hogan, while the 6/4 favourite Spirit Of Valour was a neck back in third for Ryan Moore and Aidan O'Brien.

The winning trainer said: "He had a couple of nice runs earlier in the year. He was a bit disappointing in Ascot but that was a funny race and it's nice to get him back on track today.

"He had good form on good ground as a two-year-old so we weren't worried about that and it was a pretty quick time.

"Donnacha said he was happy throughout. He said he put him in gear and he got to the front a bit sooner than he wanted but he was comfortable the whole way.

"He has Haydock (the 32Red Sprint Cup Stakes) and all those options. We wanted to get today out of the way and now we'll talk to the owners see from there. He handles an ease in the ground too."

STEWARDS REPORT

R.C. Colgan, rider of Mr Scarlet (GB) trained by Ms. Sheila Lavery, reported to the Clerk of Scales that his mount lost a shoe in running.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson

About Donal Murphy
Donal graduated from Maynooth University in 2010 with a BBS in Equine Business and since attained a diploma in Sports Journalism from Dublin Business School. He holds a variety of roles in the horse racing industry, reporting for the Press Association and p2p.ie, while also working for SIS and the Tote. From Wexford, he is a keen runner and has completed over 100 parkruns at various locations around the country.