Dermot Weld’s ever-popular Famous Name has landed the first Group Two race of his illustrious career in the Royal Whip Stakes at the Curragh.
The seven-year-old claimed his 19th win but all but his maiden successes have been at either Listed or Group Three level.
Previously whenever Famous Name had stepped above Group Three level he had just come up short, most notably when he was narrowly beaten in the French Derby in 2008 by Vision D’Etat.
Pat Smullen has been on board the Khalid Abdullah-owned entire for all bar one of his 36 starts.
John Oxx’s Irish Derby runner-up Born To Sea was expected to give him plenty to do but never settled and Famous Name eased to victory by 6-1/2 lengths.
“He is an amazing horse,” Weld said.
“He is a wonderful tribute to his owner and his breeding operation.
“He is a seven-year-old and has been in training for six years. His enthusiasm for racing and his courage is what a racehorse should be all about.
“I will speak to Lord Grimthorpe and Khalid Abdullah and see where he’ll go next. You can see he is in great form.”
Pedro The Great won an eventful renewal of the Group One Phoenix Stakes for Aidan O’Brien who was also on the Group One mark with Excelebration in France.
The drama began in the parade ring with Lottie Dod unseating Johnny Murtagh who was stood down for the rest of the day and was later found to have a broken jaw.
He was replaced by Smullen.
Then with two furlongs (400m) to run Cristoforo Colombo, a stablemate of the winner, appeared to clip heels with Probably and came down.
Both horse and rider Joseph O’Brien walked away from the incident.
Seamie Heffernan avoided all the trouble on Pedro The Great, keeping wide throughout before coming away to win comfortably by 2-3/4 lengths from Leitir Mor.
Former Australian sprinter Starspangledbanner tailed off in the wet ground on his comeback from an unsuccessful stud career at stud in the Phoenix Sprint.
