Cliffs Of Moher and Seamie Heffernan winning for trainer Aidan O’Brien. Picture: Racingfotos.com

CLIFFS OF MOHER

Trainer: Aidan O’Brien

Form: 51

Churchill, Caravaggio and Rhododendron are the Aidan O’Brien-trained three-year-olds who captured most headlines last year but it sometimes pays to look beyond the obvious at Ballydoyle.

Cliffs Of Moher, a Galileo colt who ran twice at the backend of last year, is a prime example.

His debut probably passed you by because it came in a humble 7f maiden at Cork when QIPCO British Champions Day was taking place at Ascot. While Minding and Almanzor were strutting their stuff, Cliffs Of Moher was making a very low-key start – keeping on to finish a never-nearer fifth.

O’Brien suggested later that he suffered from stage fright.

Two weeks later, in a 17-runner contest at Leopardstown, he looked a completely different animal – making most and thumping his better-fancied stablemate, Orderofthegarter, by four and a half lengths with the third beaten an aggregate of ten lengths.

There is some substance to the form because Orderofthegarter had previously finished a length and a half second to another O’Brien colt, War Decree, who went on to land the Group Two Vintage Stakes at Goodwood and is no bigger than 16-1 for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 6.

Cliffs Of Moher is open to plenty more improvement and fits into the “could be anything” category. He is a best-priced 25-1 with Betfair for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas.

Aidan O'Brien trained Cliffs Of Moher wins the @thetotecom European Breeders Fund Maiden with Seamie Heffernan on board 🏇 pic.twitter.com/RcZVrtKWIC

— Leopardstown RC (@LeopardstownRC) October 29, 2016