Apples And Bananas hits the jackpot in Goffs Million

Apples And Bananas continued a fruitful season to land the lucrative Goffs Million at the Curragh.

Joseph O’Brien’s Wootton Bassett colt was a Listed winner at Deauville last time out and therefore came into the race well fancied at 5-2 under Dylan Browne McMonagle.

Aidan O’Brien’s Antelope Canyon was the 9-4 favourite and it was that horse and Apples And Bananas who traded blows in the closing stages of the race.

Ultimately, the latter came out on top, showing a game attitude to prevail by a head on the line and take home the top prize of €495,000.

“He’s a very tough horse. It was a good aggressive ride from Dylan and he stayed on to the line well,” said O’Brien, who also trained the third, fourth and ninth-placed horses.

“I’m delighted with him, he’s as tough as nails. He’s obviously better at a mile but it’s a great pot to win and fair play to Goffs.

“It’s a fantastic incentive for people to buy horses next week (at the Orby sale) and we’ll hopefully be going back to try and find one for next year.

“He had stakes form, went and led all the way and he’s a good horse.

“He’s a horse that should go 10 furlongs next year, he has a bit of stamina in his pedigree, as it’s an Aga Khan family.

“We’ll have a look at one of those Saint-Cloud races and he’s in the Futurity Trophy as well, which we’ll have a look at too. I’d say he might run in one of those races before we pull up for the year.

“I’m delighted to win a good pot and delighted how our other ones ran as well. It’s great to get the few placings as well, they ran fantastic.

“Mikey (Sheehy) said that he met a lot of traffic (on third-placed Celtic Motif) and I have to watch it again. I knew at halfway he was on the stand rail with a whole pack in front of him, so she did well to be third.”