20 Abr. IRE. P.W.McGrath Memorial Ballysax S. G3. Leopardstown. 10f. Turf. 70.000 €
1.- MOIQEN (D.McDonogh)
2.- HEBRIDEAN (J.Heffernan)
3.- UNWRITEN RULE (P.Smullen)


MOIQEN gave Kevin Prendergast and Declan McDonogh a second consecutive win in the PW McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes as he landed the Group 3 event by three-quarters of a length.

However, with the Ballydoyle contingent beaten in the Group 3 event, the result's impact on the Vodafone Derby market was only of a minor nature, with William Hill cutting the winner to 33-1 (from 50), Boylesports going 33-1 and VCbet and Cashmans 50-1 and 40-1.

The same trainer-jockey combination was successful with Mores Wells a year ago, and after Moiqen had held off the challenge of Hebridean, Prendergast said of the son of Red Ransom: "He did it well on ground that was a bit slow for him after the rain this morning. He'd prefer better ground.

"He's well entered up and is in the Derby, but I will be meeting the boss Sheikh Hamdan and will talk with him. I suppose he could be back here for the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial next month, but we'll wait and see how he comes out of today's race."

Moiqen had been beaten four lengths into second place by the Dermot Weldtrained Famous Name - who, according to his trainer, is likely to go for either the Poule d'Essai des Poulains or the Boylesports Irish 2,000 Guineas - at Leopardstown on his reappearance early this month.

Unwritten Rule finished a length behind Hebridean in third place, with 6-4 favourite Alessandro Volta three lengths adrift in fourth after slipping through on the inside of his stablemate, King Of Rome, to lead into the straight.

First impressions were that Alessandro Volta was very disappointing, but both trainer Aidan O'Brien and jockey Johnny Murtagh were prepared to give the colt another chance to stake his claims to bigger things after it emerged that Murtagh's saddle had slipped.

Murtagh said: "My horse slipped coming out of the stalls. That caused the saddle to start moving and it made things uncomfortable for horse and rider. I was never able to get hold of him the way I would have liked. Because of what happened, I'd certainly give him another chance."

O'Brien, who had been seeking a first Ballysax win since Yeats scored in 2004, said: "You'd have to think Alessandro Volta deserves the benefit of the doubt because of the saddle slipping."

Hebridean, a 14-1 shot yesterday, is trained by O'Brien for his wife Ann Marie, and O'Brien joked: "If you knew the owner as well I do, then I'd say this horse could be going everywhere! He ran a good race, but I'm not sure about plans."