FALLON DELIVERS YEATS TO LEGER GLORY FOR O'BRIEN
16 May 2007
Racing Post

A NEAR miss with Mahler at Doncaster but, at long last, victory for Aidan O'Brien in the Irish Field St Leger at the Curragh with Yeats mastering stablemate Scorpionby half a length to give O'Brien his first win in the Group 1 event at his 11th attempt.

For Kieren Fallon it was also an Irish St Leger first and for Yeats, the dual Ascot Gold Cup winner, it was third time lucky in the 1m6f event in which he finished fourth in 2005 and runner-up a year ago.

Yeats has top weight in the Emirates Melbourne Cup, in which he finished seventh a year ago, and a discretionary penalty is possible but by no means certain following Saturday's win.

However, John Magnier,whose wife Susan is joint owner of the four-time Group 1 winner with Diane Nagle, was fielding the post race questions in the absence of O' Brien - for whom the Matron Stakes in now the only missing Irish Group 1 on his curriculum vitae - and he said: "Melbourne is an option and nothing has been decided. We have Yeats, Scorpion and Septimus and there is the Mellbourne Cup and the Prix du Cadran to think about and, who knows, if it happened to come up soft at Longchamp then Yeats might even enter the Arc picture.

"Everything is up in the air and as far as Australia is concerned the matter of the equine influenza is a headache. Hopefully, they will get it under control and a personal view is that they should start vaccinating."

Reflecting on the Ballydoyle-Coolmore 1-2 in the big race, Magnier said: "It's getting near the end for Yeats, and it was really the perfect result. Aidan trained Yeats a bit differently this year and I would say he was a better horse than he was the two previous times he ran in this race.

"Scorpion is a serious horse in his own right. He stays well and it says a lot about the two of them that they fought out the finish."

Scorpion made most of the running and when Seamie Heffernan asked him to quicken before the straighthe quickly opened up a gap on his rivals. And afterwards Fallon admitted that he thought Heffernan had stolen the race. "I panicked big time," he said. "When Seamie kicked he got four or five lengths on us and I thought he had nicked it. But in fairness to Yeats once he closed and got a smell of Scorpion he changed stride and took off."

Heffernan said of Scorpion: "He's run a very good race and just got run out of it. He probably isn't quite as straightforward a horse as Yeats but he is ahigh-class horse and I think he will be even better next year."

Mores Wells, the only three year old in the race, finished four and a half lengths back in third and his trainer Kevin Prendergast said: "It was a good run and no disgrace to be beaten bytwo such good horses. He stays in training and maybe his turn will come in this race next year."

Declan McDonogh reported: "Mores Wells ran a hell of a good race. He travelled well, liked the ground and got the distance. It was a career best for him and we've next year to look forward to. He should make into a really nice four year old."

Apart from the Ballydoyle pair, there were three other Melbourne Cup entries in the race - Bellamy Cay, Mighty and Galistic - and although Bellamy Cay, having his first run in Ireland, trailed in last of the nine runners, trainer Dermot Weld intends giving the five year old another chance before making any decision about a trip to Flemington.

"He never settled and ran much too keenly. When that happens, especially to a horse having his first race for six months, they get very tired and that's what happened. I'm thinking of running him in the Diamond Stakes over 1m2f at Fairyhouse on Saturday and we'll see how he gets on" Weld said.

Mighty finished fifth, one place in front of Galistic, and jockey John Egan said of the Jane Chapple-Hyam trained four year old: "He blew very hard after the race. He hadn't run since Royal Ascot and the race should bring him on a lot. Australia is theplan with the Geelong Cup, the Melbourne Cup and the Sandown Cup all under consideration."

Macorville, who finished fourth, delighted trainer George Moore who said: "That was the best run of his life. He prefers cut in the ground and there are plenty of options for him before the end of the season, including the Cesarewitch."