Smart Newcomer Becomes First Winner For U S Navy Flag

Ocean Vision (2c U S Navy Flag - Balaagha, by Mr Greeley) provided champion two-year-old U S Navy Flag with his first winner when beating some well-regarded individuals at Dundalk on Tuesday.

Kieran Cotter’s sole representative in the five furlong maiden was ridden to chase the leaders by Jake Coen and was asked to quicken from two furlongs out. Leading as they approached the final furlong, he was pushed out to score by three parts of a length, with the same distance back to the favourite Tiger Paw (Sioux Nation).

Bred by Mighty Universe Ltd, Ocean Vision runs in the colours of John Kirkland, who also owns Sioux Nation’s first winner Ocean Quest.

U S Navy Flag’s only previous runner, the Clive Cox-trained Kaasib, was beaten just a neck when sent off favourite on debut last week. Their precocity comes as no surprise, with U S Navy Flag having been crowned champion juvenile following Group 1 success in the Middle Park Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes, the latter coming in record time. Runner-up in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the son of War Front dropped back in trip to take the Group 1 July Cup, in which seven top-flight winners chased him home.

U S Navy Flag boasts an enviable pedigree as an own-brother to fellow three-time Group 1 winner Roly Poly, while their dam Misty For Me (Galileo) scored at the highest level on four occasions.