EXCLUSIVE: Henry can stay - Heffernan
by Johnny Ward, 13 May 2008
Seamus Heffernan, Aidan O'Brien's second stable jockey, is quite hopeful that Henrythenavigator could stay the Derby trip.
The son of Kingmambo edged New Approach in the 2000 Guineas, prompting the trainer to say afterwards that he could be a Derby horse.
It surprised many, but Heffernan was not one of them.
He told setantasports.com: "If he gets the trip, he probably has more speed than any of them.
"There are no real rules in racing. He's a lot of speed and the key to him is fast ground, but he switches off and there's no problem settling him really.
"There would be a better chance of him being a Derby horse than a six-furlong sprinter at this stage."
Heffernan rode Washington Irving to finish a modest second to Casual Conquest in Sunday's Derrinstown, and is realistic about the yard's chance of winning the Derby.
He added: "They went slow, it was a bit of a false-run race. Their [Dermot Weld's] pacemaker lay on top of me around the bend and my lad got all unbalanced. It was a tactical race but the horse that won it is a fair horse and he was impressive.
"We were hoping Washington Irving would win. It's only a trial really at the end of the day. We're hoping we can improve him between now and the Derby.
"It was only his third run and he has disappointed three times - that's the way it is. You would be saying he'd be more of a Leger type. He's a late maturer and he's probably not woken up to what's going on yet.
"It's hard to look at anything we have as outstanding at the moment," he added. "They need to improve stepping up to a mile-and-a-half, but they might. They're still babies and we haven't done that much with them at home."