Euphoric gets off to a winning start with victory at Navan

Gary Carson
October 4, 2023 4:19 pm

Frankel colt went for 1.9million guineas at Tattersalls last year.

Aidan O’Brien’s Euphoric made a winning start to his career with a narrow success on his debut at Navan.

The Frankel two-year-old is out a Pivotal mare named Blue Waltz and fetched 1,900,000 guineas as a yearling when sold via Tattersalls this time last year.

The NavanRacecourse.ie Maiden was the colt’s first racecourse outing and under Seamie Heffernan he was the 15-8 favourite for the one-mile contest.

Victory did not always look a foregone conclusion as two furlongs from home the bay was in the middle of the field of 12 runners with Ger Lyons’ Rocking Tree leading the way.

The O’Brien youngster was continually gaining ground, however, and in the final strides just edged into the lead to defeat Rocking Tree by a short head on the line.

“He’s babyish, but he’s off to a good start. It’s hard for any of our horses to win first time out. The ones who do usually progress into Group horses so hopefully he will too,” said Heffernan.

“I wanted to get him organised, get him balanced and then get him going and see what was there. I’m happy he won.

“He’s well bred and his heart is in the right place, so hopefully he keeps on improving.”

Chris Armstrong, O’Brien’s stable representative, added: “He was just ready to start and he’s a lovely colt to look forward to.

“He’s still a bit of a baby, it was great to get him out at this time of year and he’s one to look forward to for next year.

“He’ll be a lovely mile-and-a-quarter, middle-distance horse. It’s grand to get him started, one run into him at least at two, and we’ll see how he progresses between now and the end of the year.

“He has still a bit to go mentally and physically.”