O’Brien in 17th Heaven

Halfway to Heaven handed Aidan O’Brien his 17th group one win of the season on Saturday, defeating a star-studded field to take the 2008 Nassau Stakes.

Johnny Murtagh will claim a lot of the credit for the 1,000 Guineas winners excellent result, while Lush Lashes was unlucky to be forced into 2nd place in a race she should have won. Teddy Grimthorpe’s Passage of Time finished an impressive third.

 ”I thought it might be tactical” Murtagh said after riding his third feature race winner at the 2008 Goodwood fetsival. “Aidan said she is very straightforward and to bounce her out. There is no point complicating it. We were going nice and steady and I knew I was in the right place.”

While Bolger would have been disappointed by the way Kevin Manning rode Lush Lashes, he refused to blame his jockey for losing him a group one title, telling reporters: “These things happen. Kevin gave an accurate assessment of what happened and I’m not in the blame game, I leave that to others.”

“I’m not sure where we will go now,” Bolger added. “She (Lush Lashes) is in the Yorkshire Oaks and we’ll have a look at that, and there is also Leopardstown. There will be plenty of good days left.”