AFTER two months of engaging and encouraging competition, it was going to be interesting to see what turn the 2018 Irish flat season would take at last weekend’s Guineas Festival at the Curragh.

The answer was a resounding endorsement for the healthy open nature of the campaign as evidenced by memorable first classic victories for Ken Condon and Jessica Harrington. For Condon the victory of Romanised represented a spectacular way for the trainer to send out his first winner since last July, and Alpha Centauri’s triumph provided Jessica Harrington with a long overdue second Group 1 triumph.