JOSEPH O’Brien was out of luck with his 13 runners in the Friends Of The Curragh Irish Cesarewitch last weekend, but several of his team shaped well for another day, writes Andy Stephens.

Chief among them were Shoda and Sky Captain, beaten a couple of lengths into fifth and sixth respectively.

The former was never far from the thick of the action and moved into second inside the final furlong, but then ran out of puff, with her final furlong of 14.28s being only 11th best.

She could be even more effective over a bit shorter, although it will be no surprise if the daughter of Nathaniel now switches back to hurdles. She is lurking on a favourable mark relative to her flat rating, and she jumps fine, with her Race iQ index score being a creditable 7.1 out of 10.

The lightly-raced Sky Captain, having only his second start for the stable, was a well-backed 9/2 chance after an encouraging run over 10 furlongs a fortnight earlier, but fluffed the start, being only 24th fastest to 20mph.

He was still languishing in 22nd place with three furlongs to run, but stayed on stoutly to finish off in 39.15sec, with only the runner-up, Sirius, being quicker in the closing stages.

The five-year-old will be interesting if taking his chance in the English Cesarewitch at Newmarket next weekend, for which he’s quoted at 20/1, although it would be a swift turnaround.

Finally, keep Gavriel in mind for big prizes after his fourth in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket, when first home on the stands’ side.

He was probably beaten by the draw, but spins his wheels quickly, with his average of 2.40 strides per second being the highest of all the runners. That hints that the Frankel colt could be even more potent over shorter.