CORAL.IE

LEOPARDSTOWN

HANDICAP CHASE

EMPIRE Of Dirt provided a telling reminder of Colm Murphy’s training prowess as he was produced in the form of life to claim the Coral.ie Leopardstown Handicap Chase which gave young jockey Jonathan Moore his biggest winner to date.

Following a period which yielded the likes of Brave Inca, Big Zeb and Voler La Vedette, Murphy has found high profile winners harder to come by in recent seasons.

However, he excelled in restoring Empire Of Dirt to the peak of his powers to claim the valuable handicap prize.

Jumping frailties had cost the Gigginstown House Stud-owned gelding over the course of the last year but he was sure-footed at all stages under Moore (21), who rode out his 7lb claim with this triumph.

Empire Of Dirt (8/1) travelled nicely at all stages in behind the leaders and he was still going smoothly when he cruised to the front at the last. On the run in, he had more than enough in reserve to contain fellow Gigginstown runner Killer Crow. The 13-year-old Seabass, a winner of this race in 2012, posted a commendable effort to take third.

“We just don’t have the fire power that we used to but this will be great for everyone in the yard,” said Murphy. “Johnny (Moore) actually knows the horse well as he would have ridden him quite a lot when he was with us.

“I would have been disappointed if he hadn’t run well but when you’re not popping in the winners with the same regularity you perhaps aren’t as confident as before. This horse just doesn’t seem to go right-handed so maybe we’ll look at the likes of Cheltenham and Aintree now. Better ground and a stronger gallop wouldn’t be a problem for him.”