Seamie Heffernan is thrilled to have kept the ride on Aidan O’Brien’s Epsom Oaks heroine Was as she takes on her elders for the first time in Sunday’s Barclays Bank Ireland Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.
The daughter of Galileo was a surprise 20-1 winner of the mile-and-a-half Epsom Classic earlier this month under Heffernan, with her better-fancied stablemate Maybe beaten into fifth.
The pair do battle again over 10 furlongs this weekend and the trainer’s son, Joseph, will once again partner Maybe, leaving the way clear for Heffernan to get back on Was.
“She’s a Classic winner and I’m really looking forward to riding her again. These are the races you wanted to be riding in,” Heffernan said.
“I got a good trip round Epsom. I knew where I wanted to be the whole way and she got the job done well.
“Hopefully she can improve from that and it will be interesting to see how she handles conditions, as the ground is going to be very different to what she raced on in Epsom.
“She’s coming back to 10 furlongs, but I don’t think that will be too much of a hindrance.
“The ground is probably more of a worry than the trip, but it’s the same for all of them and hopefully my filly is on a going day again and we get a bit of luck.”
O’Brien has a third three-year-old representative in Up, who was last seen finishing down the field in the French Oaks.
The two major contenders from the older division are John Gosden’s British raider Izzi Top, and Sapphire from the Dermot Weld yard.
The former has been most impressive on her two appearances at Newmarket and York this season, but Gosden admits he would prefer a sounder surface.
“She’s been in good form since York but I’d rather the ground was not as soft as it’s going to be, and I presume that’s the case with most,” Gosden said.
“They are calling it soft to heavy and that’s not ideal but this race has been her aim for some time now.”
