It's not often a Group Three trumps a Group One, but the relief that engulfed the Coolmore Stud team after One Cool Cat returned to spectacular winning form at the Curragh yesterday proved it can happen.

Only half an hour earlier Damson, also racing in John Magnier's colours, had kept her unbeaten record in the the Independent Waterford Wedgwood Phoenix Stakes to provide trainer David Wachman with a first top-flight winner with just his second Group One runner.

It was also enough for Ladbrokes to go as short as 8 to 1 favourite for next year's 1,000 Guineas and for Wachman to modestly take centre stage.

But while it's hardly Damson's fault she is a filly, in the money-making business of the breeding shed there was a lot more riding on One Cool Cat's third start of the season.

The first two, in the 2,000 Guineas and last month's International Stakes, prompted intricate excuses about a possible heart complaint and less complicated gags about One Cool Cat's lack of heart being the real problem.

For a $3.1 million yearling which had won two Group Ones as a juvenile defeat was quickly knocking several zeros off One Cool Cat's stud value. Magnier, for one, had had enough.

"I told Aidan (O'Brien) under no circumstances to run, but he defied us all. This is due to him. He insisted, but that's youth," the Coolmore boss said after One Cool Cat's length defeat of The Kiddykid in the Phoenix Sprint.

Not for the first time it was the manner of victory rather than the bare form that grabbed the eye, because the return to sprinting resulted in a last-to-first display that oozed some of the old class.

"I've never doubted him but it has been frustrating," admitted Jamie Spencer after he burst between horses at the furlong pole to win easily.

Magnier added: "We always knew he could do it. We see it every morning, but I wanted to retire. This is down to Aidan."

O'Brien was too keyed up to even watch the race and admitted afterwards: "I can't tell you the relief. It's amazing the way things go wrong when you try and go beyond their natural distance."

Now that sprinting has been established as One Cool Cat's business, O'Brien didn't rule out a trip to York next week for the Nunthorpe. The alternative is Haydock's Sprint Cup.

The Ballydoyle trainer's relief can only have been helped by a clear sign of a general return to peak form with a four-timer that included Group Twos for Solskjaer in the Royal Whip and Silk And Scarlet in the Debutante.

If anything, Wachman looked relieved at being shunted out of centre stage, but then he probably suspects there is a lot more to come from Damson.

After comfortably beating Oratorio and Russian Blue, Wachman nominated the Cheveley Park Stakes as a target.

"Kieren (Fallon) was impressed, said she switched off and all he had to do was press the button," Wachman said.

But when it came to pressing buttons, it seemed nothing could compete with One Cool Cat.