Gaudeamus gets going

Those Budweiser Irish Derby horses that like very fast ground conditions might be disappointed on the evidence of last night's festival opener at the Curragh where Gaudeamus picked up the featured Listed race.

The officially "good" going was almost uniformly praised by the jockeys and with some thunder showers forecast for tomorrow a similar surface could be available to the classic contenders.

"It's beautiful ground, completely good," reported the champion jockey Pat Smullen. "If it keeps drying out, and there's no rain, it will be good to firm by Sunday but a few showers will leave it perfect."

The surface certainly seemed to suit Gaudeamus who was two lengths too good for The Real Thing and her stable companion Simonetta in the Woodpark & Ballysheehan Stakes.

With the favourite Miss Beatrix racing much too free, Kevin Manning got a perfect lead on the winner and trainer Jim Bolger expects considerable improvement from a filly who comes from the family of the classic winners Bosra Sham and Hector Protector. Bolger and Manning later doubled up in the concluding maiden as Galilean made all to win comfortably.

The legendary Vincent O'Brien, a six-time Irish Derby victor, was present to see the very first winner trained by his grandson David Myerscough as the 33 to 1 shot Lilac Mist held on to win the 10-furlong handicap by half a length. "I can't believe it," said an emotional Myserscough, the 25-year-old son of the former Goffs managing director, Philip Myerscough.

The first Derby of the weekend, the Derrinstown Apprentice Derby, fell to the champion jumps trainer Noel Meade whose Telemachus swept to a wide-margin victory under 17-year-old Emmet Butterly.