THE Denis Hogan-trained Meriden boasts a triple-digit rating after she stretched her winning run to five in the Listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Cairn Rouge Stakes at Killarney on Wednesday.
A run of four handicap wins began off a mark of 57 at Down Royal at the end of May and she went on record two wins at the Curragh, with a Leopardstown victory in between.
Lining up for Wednesday’s contest with a rating of 97, she registered her best performance when gamely racing to a one-and-a-half-length success over the Joseph O’Brien-trained Royal Ascot winner and 2/1 favourite Green Carrera, who didn’t help herself with a slow start.
The handicappers were impressed and raised Meriden’s rating to a career high of 102.
Hogan said of the Chris Hayes-ridden 11/2 winner: “We always knew she was okay, but she’s improved with every run.
“It’s worked out lovely, she’s just stepped up every time. She’s done a lot very quick, it’s massive what she’s done in six or seven weeks.
“You’d have to look at a Group 3 with her next. She’s beaten a good filly there.”
Meriden is owned by Patrick O’Brien and Linda Shanahan, and her son Charles said: “My grandparents, Michael (Cunningham) and Anne are watching the race at home and I know how much it means to them.
Emotional
“It means everything to us, because obviously the race is named after a filly my grandfather trained and she won so many Group 1s. It was nearly emotional!
“Denis has done such a great job to progress her from handicaps, now into this company. It’s a really special day and I’m delighted everyone is here.”
The Sunnyhill Racing Syndicate-owned Loyal Touch completed a double for Hogan in the concluding Kitty O’Se’s Seafood and Grill Restaurant Handicap.
A five-time winner when trained by Mark Johnston and then his son Charlie in Britain, the six-year-old was recording his first win on this side of the Irish Sea.
Fresh from his double over hurdles at Sligo on Sunday, Daniel King came late on the 17/2 chance to beat Donnacha O’Brien’s 4/1 shot Celestially by an easy three and a quarter lengths.
“He’s a lovely horse. He has had plenty of issues,” said Hogan. “I had said we might make the running, but the man on board is just a natural rider and he put him in the place he should have been in the race, regarding the pace.
“He sat back halfway; after us saying we might make the running, and that’s why he’s top class. I saw Tony Martin saying it two weeks ago, we’ve known this for a long time. Dan King should be in a big job, he’s very good, but the jobs are not there.”
CHRIS Hayes also landed a double on the evening, his second in as many days. Half an hour before his success on Meriden, he had again teamed up with Dermot Weld to win the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden on 3/1 shot Kalir.
In a tight finish, he got the better of the Michael O’Callaghan 15/8 shot Cello Sonata by a neck, with 6/4 favourite Elusive Path four lengths away in third place.
The winning jockey said: “There is a nice handicap on August 9th, three-year-old and up (at the Curragh). He won’t get touched for that, so he could come in off a nice weight in that 0-90.”
The handicapper took a different view, raising Kalir by 3lb to a new handicap rating of 85.
Again ridden for trainer Ado McGuinness by Patrick McGettigan, Minaun View gamely added to her recent Bellewstown success when landing the O’Donoghue Ring Optional Claiming Race.
The strong 3/1 favourite made all the running and held the sustained challenge of 10/1 chance Timandi by half a length.
McGuinness and owner Paul Hardman held on to their winner and the only horse changing hands after the race was the fifth-placed Cosmic Funk, who was claimed by trainer Pat Murphy for €10,000.
THE winners just keep coming for Joseph O’Brien and champion jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle, who captured the Irish EBF Median Sires Series Race with Venetian Power.
A 9/2 chance on the back of a promising start at the Curragh behind early Epsom Derby favourite Giant Sequoia, Venetian Power overhauled Jessica Harrington’s front-running Bellewstown winner Full Volume (3/1) at the furlong pole to score by half a length.
Two lengths further back was Aidan O’Brien’s 8/11 favourite South Dakota, who had finished fourth in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot on his previous start.
Deserved success
Already placed second and third on a couple of runs this month, Bella Colombia gained a deserved success in the Executive Helicopters Handicap.
The first of two winners for Sam Coen, the 85/40 favourite got the gaps when it mattered and came through late to score by a length and a half from 8/1 chance Jasmine Affanalis.
Winning trainer Willie McCreery said: “That was grand. I declared because I thought the handicapper might throw us out of the 0-60s. When we got drawn one, I said we’d run her, I didn’t like to run her back so quickly (after Dundalk on Sunday).”
Another success
Arch Enemy, one of four winners for trainer Paddy Magee on Saturday, was Coen’s second winner, as she scored another last-gasp success in the Start Your Free Month Trial At racingtv.com Handicap.
Having come from well off the pace to complete a treble for her trainer at Navan four days earlier, she repeated the trick when again coming from the back of the field in the colours of the Black Steel Square Syndicate.
“Unbelievable. It’s some team effort and I don’t think in the past few days I’ve been giving them enough credit,” said Magee of his 3/1 winning favourite.
“I’ve been down here, I was down with two horses last night, I’m not even at home. Emily Fleming and all the girls in the yard, it’s a massive team. It’s been a bit of a whirlwind!”