Auguste Rodin was an impressive winner of the KPMG Champions Juvenile Stakes at Leopardstown.

The Deep Impact colt was the 11-10 favourite for Ryan Moore and Aidan O’Brien, travelling behind the leading pair in the early stages of the one-mile Group Two contest.

Having inched into the race he took up the lead at the furlong marker, holding off all four rivals to cross the line a length and a half ahead of runner-up Caroline Street. The winner’s stablemate Tower Of London had taken them along with Serious Challenge, but dropped away tamely in the straight.

O’Brien said: “He was just ready off his break and will come forward plenty from it.

“He travelled and he’s a lovely mover, so he will appreciate nice ground when he gets it.

“Ryan said he had to go a little bit earlier than he wanted, but we’re very happy with him really.

“His dam (Rhododendron) was very good and he’s by Deep Impact. He’s a horse with a lot of quality.

“He has a beautiful physique and a good nature and always went through his work very impressively. He’s matured into a lovely horse.

“To send a mare to Japan at the time was incredible foresight and it was maybe the last year of Deep Impact. To get a horse like him out of a Galileo champion mare is incredible really.”

Auguste Rodin could head next to Doncaster or Newmarket and was cut from 16-1 to 12-1 with Coral for both the 2000 Guineas and the Derby.

“He could be a Vertem Futurity or Dewhurst horse, he has plenty of class and quality and will probably sharpen up a lot from the race,” O’Brien said.

“We thought he could be the type of horse who could do both (2000 Guineas and Derby), he could be a Derby horse that could start in the Guineas. He could end up a middle-distance horse, a mile and a quarter horse that could get a mile and a half. But a mile, mile-and-a-quarter horse we thought.”