{"id":388748,"date":"2026-04-12T20:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/388748\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T20:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T20:11:09","slug":"christmas-day-unwraps-derby-potential-as-pierre-bonnard-bombs-out-in-trial-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/388748\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Day unwraps Derby potential as Pierre Bonnard bombs out in Trial \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The focus was on classic trials at Leopardstown<\/a>\u2019s first flat fixture of 2026 on Sunday, where Christmas Day unwrapped Derby potential by landing the PW McGrath Ballysax Stakes. <\/p>\n

The apparent second-string of Aidan O\u2019Brien\u2019s four runners overhauled his pacesetting stable companion Endorsement to win a race with a proven pedigree for identifying \u201cblue-riband\u201d candidates. <\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s Derby hero Lambourn was runner-up to Delacroix in last year\u2019s Ballysax before scoring at Epsom under Wayne Lordan.<\/p>\n

The rider was on board Christmas Day here in a contest that had looked to revolve around the Ballydoyle first-string, the winter Derby favourite, Pierre Bonnard. <\/p>\n

He bombed out, however, managing only seventh of the nine runners as an evens favourite. Instead, it was the easy to back 11\/1 shot another son of Camelot, who emerged on top. <\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien expressed no surprise about Pierre Bonnard\u2019s performance, predicting significant fitness improvement for the colt in the next Derby Trial at Leopardstown. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just felt if he was going to the Derby he needed two runs, win lose or draw,\u201d the trainer said. \u201cHe\u2019s had his first run now, we\u2019ll see him the next day, and we\u2019ll be able to assess him properly and then if he is to go to the Derby his preparation should have been fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the winner, O\u2019Brien commented: \u201cHe\u2019s just one of those horses that is very uncomplicated. He\u2019s kind of floating along under the radar the whole time.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was more straightforward earlier when O\u2019Brien\u2019s True Love put to bed any stamina concerns in emphatic style in the Group Three Priory Belle Stakes over seven furlongs. <\/p>\n

\"TrueTrue Love ridden by Ryan Moore (left) on their way to winning the Ballylinch Stud Priory Belle Stake at Leopardstown on Sunday. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

Drawn on the wide outside of 12 runners in the seven-furlong heat, last season\u2019s Cheveley Park winner broke quickly and was prominent throughout.<\/p>\n

As the field fanned out in the straight, Ryan Moore brought the filly widest of all to the stands rail and True Love wasn\u2019t hard-pressed to beat Magny Cours by more than a length. <\/p>\n

For a filly precocious enough as a juvenile to land the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot it was a notably stout performance on her comeback, encouraging hopes for her ability to get a mile.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan rode her positively, wanting to find out. Obviously if you dropped her in a bit more, she might relax a little bit and come home better,\u201d said O\u2019Brien who has the enviable task of dividing True Love and two other Group One-wining fillies, Precise and Diamond Necklace, in the various 1,000 Guineas options next month. <\/p>\n

Considering it\u2019s 38 years since Seamus Heffernan rode his first winner, the multiple classic-winning jockey is past any trial of his own big race credentials and proved he\u2019s still a force to reckon with as Thesecretadversary landed the Red Rocks Stakes.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t all smooth sailing for the 53-year-old veteran either as Fozzy Stack\u2019s colt took a keen hold from the off behind the pace-forcing Dorset. <\/p>\n

\"ThesecretadversaryThesecretadversary ridden by Seamus Heffernan (right) on their way to winning the Ballylinch Stud Red Rocks Stakes in Leopardstown. Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA Wire <\/p>\n

That Thesecretadversary had enough in the tank to shoot more than two lengths clear of the Phoenix winner Power Blue spoke volumes for his future. He was cut to 25\/1 for next month\u2019s 2000 Guineas at Newmarket by some firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a little bit keen today. I always thought he might get a mile and a quarter, but looking at that I\u2019d probably say a mile. Not saying that we won\u2019t try a mile and a quarter at some stage. He\u2019s in every Guineas \u2013 bar the Italian!\u201c Stack said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI also entered him in a million-dollar race at Keeneland the same day as the English Guineas, but that probably won\u2019t happen now. I\u2019ll talk to the owners,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The race was marred by one of the Ballydoyle quartet, Warsaw, unseating jockey Ronan Whelan at the top of the straight. The horse broke down injured and had to be euthanised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The focus was on classic trials at Leopardstown\u2019s first flat fixture of 2026 on Sunday, where Christmas Day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388749,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8567,85,46,185216,185217,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-388748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-horse-racing","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-leopardstown-races-sunday-april-12th","12":"tag-pa2026","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}