A decidedly quiet few days on the domestic front meant that much of the focus last week rested on Sandown for the Eclipse Stakes which represented the first major clash between the classic crop and their older rivals.

Hopes were high that this battle of the generations would see Aidan O’Brien’s Epsom Derby runner-up Cliffs Of Moher strike a blow for the three-year-olds. However, it wasn’t to be for the son of Galileo and he had to settle for fourth behind Ulysses after being badly hampered early on.

For Cliffs Of Moher there will be other days at the top level and he is unquestionably capable of much better. Even though the three-year-olds had to give best in this showpiece this was far from a disheartening contest from their point of view with Churchill’s old rival Barney Roy going down by just a nose to the year older Ulysses.

It will be a few weeks yet before any definitive conclusions can be drawn regarding where the three-year-olds fit, relative to the older horses, and the likes of the upcoming King George at Ascot and Goodwood’s Sussex Stakes, which will hopefully see the reappearance of a back to form Churchill, should be illuminating.

FESTIVAL FANCIES

With just a few weeks to go until the summer racing spectacular that is the Galway Festival, the thoughts of many are turning to Ballybrit. At this point the make up and complexion of races such as the Galway Plate and Hurdle remain unclear but there may have been a couple of Hurdle contenders on show at Bellewstown on Saturday.

The first of these was Gordon Elliott’s Timiyan who made it two wins from as many starts in quite a reasonable handicap and he is shaping up like one that could hold his own in a quality contest such as the Galway Hurdle.

Earlier on the card Joseph O’Brien’s Tigris River took advantage of a straight forward opportunity in a conditions hurdle. This son of Montjeu ran very well to take fifth in last year’s Hurdle and there is every reason to believe that he can show up well again this year.

ACTION AT NAAS

At Naas on Saturday there was a couple of decent two-year-old performances. In an intriguing three runner conditions event the Ger Lyons-trained Camelback did especially well to prevail given that his pre race antics left a lot to be desired.

Lyons was typically candid afterwards and stated Camelback cannot afford to be so errant if he is to make it to the next level but there is no doubt that this colt has quite an engine. The card began with a nice display from Aidan O’Brien’s Seahenge in a six furlong maiden. This son of Scat Daddy looked decidedly green through the first half of the race but when he became attuned to what was required of him he finished off in style.