COLIN Keane completed a first-and-last race double at Limerick on Friday as the dual champion jockey provided recently licensed trainer Cathal Byrnes with a first winner in the concluding Shanagolden Handicap with Run For Mary (7/4f).
Ballingarry-based Byrnes, son of suspended trainer Charles Byrnes, sent his first runners to Wexford on Wednesday and today bagged a first winner with Run For Mary, which battled gamely for a neck win over No Thanks.
Byrnes junior was at Down Royal and following Run For Mary’s win for the Top Of The Hill Syndicate, Charles Byrnes was on hand to report: “Cathal was in Down Royal and was a small bit unlucky to get beaten in a three-way photo (with One For Joe) but this is a great start for him.
“Cathal is 26 and is training them now but there is nothing definite (regarding who holds the licence after September) and Philip is also a great help as well and is doing well.”
He added: “You wouldn’t be missing a whole lot coming here today but I can work away in the yard as I’m not a disqualified person at all, I just can’t train the horses.”
Keane began the day by winning the opening Croom Claiming Race on his employer Ger Lyons’ Gegenpressing (5/2 favourite), which was later claimed for €15,000 by trainer John Murphy.
The winner carries the colours of Niall and Deirdre Kennelly and the trainer’s brother and assistant Shane Lyons later reported: “He is the first horse Niall and Deirdre have had with us, they are lovely people and we’re delighted to get the win for them.”
Gamble landed
The Patrickswell Apprentice Handicap was divided with form-horse Matilda With Me landing the opening division and Sequoiaspirit, whose form was poor, successfully landing a gamble to win the second.
The Rodger Sweeney-trained Matilda With Me (6/4 favourite), for owner Thomas Murphy, had won her previous start at Cork and followed up today under Sam Ewing.
The daughter of Morpheus is a strapping-sized filly and following the race Sweeney said: “She is mad for hurdles but they won’t leave me! She is a big tall, lovely filly and he (Ewing) said if the others came to him, he could’ve gone on. She needs soft ground and I wasn’t going to run her at all but it turned out good.”
The Ray Hackett-trained Sequoiaspirit, under jockey Paddy Harnett, landed a tidy gamble (20/1 – 9/1 on the show), beating No Trouble by half a length.
The Nenagh-based trainer later reported: “He struggled the last day over hurdles and it knocked the stuffing out of him. It took him a long time to recover and we said we’d come back and have a go at this, with the light weight and see.
“It was more to sweeten him than anything and it worked out grand. I thought Paddy gave him a peach of a ride. He is a very handy horse but his heart is in the right place.”
The stewards subsequently enquired into Sequoiaspirit’s apparent improvement in form and noted Hackett’s explanation that returning from hurdling to faster ground today helped.
FRIDAY saw Johnny Murtagh record a first Royal Ascot winner with Create Belief in the Sandringham Stakes and he completed an across-the-card double at Limerick, providing jockey Shane Kelly with a career highlight in the Listed Martin Molony Stakes with Sonnyboyliston.
The 6/5 favourite carries the colours of the Kildare Racing Club and displayed a fine turn of foot to eventually beat Sunchart by a length and a half. Following the race jockey Kelly reported: “I’m with Johnny three and a half years and I’m getting plenty of chances so I’m delighted to repay him.
“All the horses ran well in Ascot so I was coming here really confident because he had been working with those horses. He is a nice horse, had a very good run in Chester and I think he can step up again.”
The Ken Condon-trained Let’s (13/2, for the Let’s Partnership) is likely to go blacktype hunting following a win in the Adare Fillies Race.
The keen-going daughter of Shalaa settled well for jockey Niall McCullagh and eventually scored a half-length win over Neptune Rock. McCullagh stated: “She was tough and today with the small field I was able to ride her cold and drop her in. Once she settles she has a potent turn of foot and used that today.
“I rode her first time out in Dundalk and always thought she was capable of doing something like that and it all came together in the small field today, putting her asleep and having one go.
“She’ll go looking for blacktype now.”
ANOTHER capable type and well-bred Snapius (9/2) landed the LimerickRaces.ie Median Auction Maiden for trainer Joseph O’Brien and jockey Mikey Sheehy.
A sibling to three O’Brien-trained winners, Snapraeterea, Snapraeceps and Pedisnap, Sheehy stated:
“His brother Snapraeterea was fourth in Ascot yesterday (Hampton Court Stakes) and he is from a very consistent family who always produce winners so hopefully he will go on to bigger things.”
The Jessica Harrington-trained, Jim Bolger-bred Theory Of Music (for owners Lord Lloyd Webber & A Rosen Partnership) gained a valuable win in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden, scoring for Tom Madden.
The sister to Turret Rocks battled well for a length-and-a-half win and Madden said: “She is lazy and only goes through the motions but is a great spin, is very well bred and is from a good Jim Bolger family.”