Tattersalls Ireland Spring Juvenile Hurdle (Grade 1)

IN a finish of high drama, A Wave Of The Sea propelled himself back to towards the forefront of the juvenile generation with a victory that had looked decidedly unlikely as the runners turned for home.

Beforehand and for most of the race, the odds-on Aspire Tower took centre stage but he crashed out at the last when trying to fend off Cerberus and this looked to have gifted the victory to Joseph O’Brien’s charge.

However, Cerberus idled badly in front and as he started to tie up his stablemate and fellow J.P. McManus-owned runner A Wave Of The Sea capitalised with a late flourish under Barry Geraghty.

Rallying

A Wave Of The Sea reached the line with a length and a quarter to spare over a rallying Wolf Prince, with Cerberus finishing a neck back in third. This was a second consecutive victory in this race for Joseph O’Brien, whereas Geraghty was adding this victory to the ones he achieved on Guitar Pete in 2014 and Personal Column in 2008.

Earlier this season, A Wave Of The Sea had looked one of the leading lights of the juvenile division but he came here with 35 lengths to make up on Aspire Tower from their meeting at Christmas. To his credit, the son of Born To Sea bounced back and, in an open year, this experienced sort appeals as one that could show up well in the Triumph if he goes there.

Challenge

After dominating his first two outings over hurdles, Aspire Tower couldn’t quite grind his rivals into submission this time but at the time of his departure he looked to be rallying to the challenge laid down by Cerberus. Happily, both Aspire Tower and Rachael Blackmore emerged from this unscathed and Henry de Bromhead’s charge still has legitimate Cheltenham aspirations.

Joseph O’Brien said: “Cerberus just seemed to idle in front and get a bit lonely but luckily we had A Wave Of The Sea in there and he got a lovely, energy saving ride from Barry. Over the last few season I’ve been lucky enough to have some lovely horses for J.P. and the two horses here are nice juveniles. They have Triumph entries and they will be put in the Fred Winter and we’ll talk to everyone closer to the time to see where they might go.”