Over almost two decades Seamus Heffernan has played second-fiddle to a succession of high-profile No.1 Ballydoyle riders but Diamondsandrubies was just one of a pair of memorable big race short-head defeats he inflicted on Ryan Moore at the Curragh.
An Irish Derby weekend that promised so much for Moore wound up without him landing a blow in Saturday’s classic and picking wrong in Sunday’s Sea The Stars Pretty Polly Stakes as the favourite Legatissimo just failed to overhaul the cannily ridden Diamondsandrubies.
To rub salt into the wound, Moore also got it wrong in the Group Three Attheraces Curragh Cup with Heffernan even being able to afford to lose his whip in the closing stages on Bondi Beach before edging out his stable companion Order Of St George.
To be fair not many would have argued beforehand that Moore should have been on Diamondsandrubies rather than the unlucky Epsom Oaks runner-up yet it wound up once again with Heffernan making most of another big-race Aidan O’Brien ‘spare’.
Over three weeks after Colm O’Donoghue sprang a 50-1 shock on O’Brien’s Qualify in the Epsom Oaks, Heffernan, another integral member of the Ballydoyle team, made the most of his latest Group One chance with an inspired front-running ride on the winner.
Controlling the pace from the start, Heffernan got first run on the field while Moore was momentarily short of room on the 6-4 favourite. Legatissimo closed remorselessly when switched to space on the inside but failed by a short head on the final nod.
The aftermath
Hindsight as ever reared its head in the aftermath with O’Brien pointing out how Diamondsandrubies was even more unlucky at Epsom when coming off worst in dramatic interference in the straight.
For the third time in its Group One history, the champion trainer successfully brought a beaten Oaks filly back to ten furlongs to land the Pretty Polly and the first of them, Peeping Fawn in 2007, went to land the Irish Oaks which looks set to be Diamondsandrubies’ next target.
That is one of Ireland’s top-flight prizes that Heffernan has yet to win and his chances of changing that will, as ever, depend on what Coolmore’s No.1 jockey ultimately chooses to ride.
But the 42-year-old has built up a Group One CV that is the envy of most of his colleagues on the back of such a system, highlighted by back to back Derbies in 2007-08 but also a previous Pretty Polly win on Misty For Me in 2011.
A trio of wins in the 1,000 Guineas, a Leger, not to mention a pair of Champion Stakes, also testify to the steady hand that O’Brien so values and Heffernan was characteristically cool afterwards, commenting:
“She was unlucky at Epsom, but she’s tough and the way Aidan trains them, they always progress. I knew they were coming – but I know where the line is!”
O’Brien said: “Seamus has been with us since the start and is great fella, and a world class rider. He’s a massive part of the team.”
Further opportunity
Diamondsandrubies was introduced at 3-1 in some lists for the Curragh Oaks in three weeks’ time and could be joined by Qualify with the unbeaten Words and Curvy representing another tough Coolmore choice for Moore that may yet result in further opportunity for Heffernan.
David Wachman is likely to point Legatissimo next at Goodwood’s Nassau Stakes and the trainer has another promising filly on his hands with Most Beautiful, part-owned by Irish rugby star, Ronan O’Gara, who impressively won the Group Three Grangecon Stud Stakes.
“She’s definitely got a future. There’s a bit of size about her and she’s still a little weak,” said Wachman who didn’t rule out a tilt at the Moyglare later in the season.
Ryan Moore won on Most Beautiful and also secured the Group Three International Stakes on the English raider Air Pilot who made all to hold off Parish Hall.
But it is September’s St Leger that could see Bondi Beach and Order Of St George clashing again with the latter going to Doncaster via York’s Great Voltigeur.
“The winner was race-fit and Ryan’s horse could do with another run,” O’Brien said.
