What a sight - 28 runners stretched across the width of the track in the valuable Irish Cambridgeshire at the Curragh overnight, with the familiar blue silks of Lloyd Williams out in front.
The Joseph O'Brien-trained Federal defeated his stablemate Good Heavens by a neck in the €100,000 feature over a mile.
Federal had finished four and a half lengths behind Good Heavens last start at Cork but turned the result around with a 6lb pull in the weights with 3lb claimer Mikey Sheehy in the saddle.
"Mikey gave him a great ride," O'Brien told ITV Racing.
"He’d been off the track for a long time and ran well the last day. He was a talented enough two-year-old but had a bit of trouble with his feet and that’s why he was off for so long.
"He was due to go to Australia, but he couldn't fly because of that. His owner Lloyd Williams' patience has been rewarded and a lot of people put in an awful lot of work.
“I ran him on testing ground here last year and I shouldn't have, and then he came back at Cork and ran a good race against Good Heavens, so we gave him a shot here.
“He looks a Stakes horse in the making."
Both winner and runner-up are by Zoffany out of Galileo mares.
Joseph O'Brien purchased Federal for €90,000 from the Glenvale Stud draft at the 2019 Goffs Orby Yearling Sale.
His dam Zee Zee Top is an unraced half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Izzy Top from Meon Valley Stud’s extraordinary family of Irish Oaks heroine Colorspin.
