IT mightn’t have been Plan ‘A’, but Plan ‘B’ didn’t work out too badly. Sticktotheplan provided trainer Cormac Farrell with the biggest winner of his career, when causing a 22/1 upset in the Listed Colm Quinn BMW Novice Hurdle - though it certainly didn’t come as a surprise to connections.

The €45,000 store purchase, formerly registered in the colours of Douglas Taylor, had been the subject of serious market support when sent off 11/10 for a bumper on his Fairyhouse debut back in February - the second leg of a reported double with Great Attitude, who won the opening maiden hurdle on that occasion at 8/1 (from 200/1).

An ambition to pull off the brace then came unstuck as Sticktotheplan faded to a 27-length defeat in fifth, but he proved a case of ‘right horse-wrong day’ when cutting through a tightly-packed field here to surge on by two and a quarter lengths under Ricky Doyle.

“We fancied him and had a few quid on him - we’ve always thought he was a very smart horse,” said Farrell.

“It’s taken time for the penny to drop and to race correctly. His jumping has come together. He has a huge future. I tried to sell him on several occasions but nobody would buy him, so I’m delighted because I’ll be properly paid for him at some stage!

“I’m a big fan of him, he’s a very exciting horse. He’s not really a summer type either, I was glad to see rain last night because today is as good as he wants it. He handles heavy ground and works like a very high-class horse.

“We had a nice few quid on him the first day at Fairyhouse, and then [prices] obviously collapse a little bit. I think he was just a bit babyish and he still is now. There’s improvement to come.”

King collects

Having been tasked with pacemaker duties for stablemate Brighterdaysahead on several occasions last season, King Of Kingsfield had his confidence boosted with a first win over fences in the two-mile-two-furlong Latin Quarter Beginners Chase under Jack Kennedy.

Given he split Down Memory Lane and Nurburgring on his only start over fences at the Navan Racing Festival last November, it didn’t come as a surprise that the multiple Grade 1-placed performer was good enough to take a race of this nature - but his SP was startling.

Gigginstown’s talented seven-year-old drifted right out to 7/2 (from 11/8) before beating My Great Mate by three and three-quarters of a length.

Winning trainer Gordon Elliott said: “He had a couple of hard races last year leading the mare around, but I was delighted to see the ground being as good as it was today and I thought Jack gave him a beautiful ride.

“The horse was a bit careful jumping early and I think it took him a mile to get confidence, but he won snugly enough.

“We’ll keep him to fences now and we’ll have fun with him.

“I don’t think he wants real winter heavy ground, but there are plenty of nice races to be won with him. He could be one for Cheltenham in October or November.”

THE recent roll of honour for the seven-furlong Colm Quinn BMW Irish EBF Fillies’ Maiden includes high-class operators like Tahiyra, Hermosa, Legatissimo, Eziyra and Purple Lily, and the wide-margin 2025 winner, Pivotal Attack (9/2), looks an excellent prospect in her own right for Joe Murphy.

There appeared to be high hopes that Ballydoyle’s Amelia Earhart would take plenty of beating as the 5/4 favourite, but she seriously dented her chances when lugging right at the top of the straight (jockey Jack Cleary told the stewards his mount “shied from the whip”).

Regardless, it would have taken a significant performance to beat the Robert Moran-owned winner, who showed definite improvement from her Fairyhouse debut fifth to score by four and a quarter lengths under Gary Carroll.

Murphy said: “The form of her run at Fairyhouse has worked out very well and we knew she’d come up the hill. You’re always afraid of the O’Brien filly - there was good word for her and she might have been a bit unlucky, but our one was very professional.

“I think we have a very nice filly going forward. I’m not sure where she’ll go next, but the curve will be upwards. We think she’s stakes class.”

Lawlor on cloud nine

Training a first Galway Festival winner clearly meant the world to Donard, Co Wicklow-based handler Peter Lawlor when Summer Snow came out on top in a bunched finish to the seven-furlong caulfieldindustrial.com Handicap.

Pat Kelly’s plucky grey mare was making it three wins in the space of four starts and was given a textbook Galway ride by Rory Cleary to score by a length over Apache Outlaw at 8/1.

“You only dream of Galway Festival winners!” beamed Lawlor.

“I was confident of a good run but, being a restricted trainer, you can never be too confident being up against Willie Mullins and all the rest of them. I have my license for four years, my horses are running well and this mare has been tearing up the gallops at home.

“Pat gave this mare to me and won her first race for us off 65 - she’s won from 81 today. She’s going through the ranks and it’s brilliant.”

THERE is rarely a shortage of drama in Galway and one of the most chaotic finishes of the week was saved for last on Tuesday when a dead-heat was called in the Caulfield Industrial Handicap between Sean Byrne’s Heliogabalus and Ciaran Murphy’s Castleheath.

The result of just a length separating the first five home - and only two and a half lengths covering the first nine - sums up just how busy the closing stages of this mile contest were.

Promising 7lb-claimer Sam Coen managed to come from the clouds, slicing through heavy traffic down the rail, on Castleheath (17/2) to force the shared verdict on the line with Shane Foley on Heliogabalus (12/1).

Dead-heats around here are rare, but this was the second in three years, following a shared handicap hurdle between Building Bridges and Thornleigh Frank in 2023. There were two sets of delighted connections joining in the winning photo, with Castleheath carrying the colours of Niall and Cathal Slevin and Heliogabalus obliging for Brenda Byrne.

“It didn’t look like we were up so we couldn’t believe it when the dead-heat was called - it’s unbelievable!” said Byrne.

“He ran well at Killarney the last day [when third] but he has a little think about things, so the [first-time] blinkers were a big help today. We had a winner at the festival previously with Eastern Racer, but that was during Covid, so this is great.”

Murphy added: “He hadn’t run on the flat since last November, but we had this race in mind for a long time. We know that he runs well fresh, so decided to have one go today. We felt he had a nice flat mark and I think he can mix it between flat and hurdles now. I’m delighted for the Slevin family.

“We’ve been really happy with how our horses are running all year. We’re already a couple of winners in front of our total for the whole of last year and hopefully they can continue in good form.”

It was a case of all’s well that ends well for Murphy too, as human error led to the wrong saddles being placed on his two runners before the race; the issue detected by a second identification scan prior to entering the parade ring. He was fined €500 for the mix-up, the stewards considering that it was his first offence in this regard.

Dusty double

Foley was making it a double on the day, having earlier struck on 6/5 favourite Collecting Coin in the Caulfield Industrial Irish EBF Maiden over a mile.

Jessica Harrington and Patrick Cooper’s three-year-old looked the one to beat on all known form (placed on his first two starts) and his class shone through in staying on best of all to beat the 80-rated Gran Habano by three lengths.

Assistant trainer Kate Harrington said: “He’s a lovely horse, who we’ve always thought an awful lot of. “He was shrewdly bought by Patrick from the John Dance dispersal sale in February 2024 [for 52,000gns]. He misbehaved a bit at the Curragh and Cork earlier in the year, so we gelded him since and he behaved impeccably today. We’ll pick a winner’s of one next and plot our way along.”