ONLY four went to post for the near six-furlong conditions race but it served up the finish of the evening as the durable Red Sabor came out on top to secure his third victory of the season.
The Andy Slattery representative, who struck over the minimum trip at Bellewstown eight days previously, was the lowest rated runner in the field but he was able to dictate the tempo from the outset. As the last furlong loomed it seemed as though Mur Hiba was sure to pick off the leader on her first outing since reaching the frame in a Curragh Group 3 last August.
The Brendan O’Sullivan-owned winner was far from done with though and answered Declan McDonogh’s every call when he lost the lead inside the distance. As the line loomed Red Sabor was back on terms and he then edged the bobbing finish by a short-head, with Solar Halo finishing off well to lie just a neck off the front pair.
“He’s in very good shape at the moment and the blinkers make a big difference to him,” said the winning rider. “He saw out the trip very well and when the runner-up came to him he found plenty.”
Michael O’Callaghan introduced a two-year-old of note in I Am Power who captured the valuable Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden. For his debut, the relation to the high-class sprinter Soldier’s Tale had to give weight all around in this five-furlong event and he was very green in the preliminaries.
However, he turned in a taking effort to show why he currently holds entries in the Phoenix, Futurity and Gimcrack Stakes. Inside the last two furlongs, Pat Smullen unleashed the 4/1 chance with a sustained challenge on the outer and the pair headed Sankari Royale 100 yards from home to prevail by one and three-quarter lengths.
“He’s a lovely colt who we always thought a bit of and he has a few nice entries,” declared O’Callaghan. “He was only about 80% fit coming here and I thought he’d improve a hell of a lot for the run so I wouldn’t have been surprised if he was beaten. Pat feels that he’s a proper six-furlong horse and hopefully he’ll improve enough off this to move into a stakes race next.”
Smullen went on to record a double as Political Policy (9/1) took advantage of his low turf rating to land the one-mile, five-furlong handicap. The six-year-old is rated 87 on polytrack but lined up here with a mark of 62 on turf and he got the better of a last furlong duel with the former Group 2-placed runner Kalann to score by half a length.
“That’s the first time since he’s come to me that he’s got his ground on turf,” reflected Gavin Cromwell, who trains the gelding for Frank Lynch. “He’s been a fantastic horse and has won eight times at Dundalk but he is rated much lower on the turf so we’ll keep going with him on this surface.”
It was an evening to remember for Wexford-born Willie Byrne (17) who rode the first winner of his career on Mainicin in the Emerald Facility Services Event Cleaning Apprentice Handicap over 10 furlongs.
On just his seventh ride on the track, Byrne made the running on the five-year-old and, after she relinquished the lead for a period, she was back in front again a quarter of a mile from home. She then kept on gamely under pressure to defeat Room To Roam by half a length. This was a fourth career success for the Jim Bolger-trained and Jackie Bolger-owned filly who made the pace for Pleascach when that one won the 2015 Irish 1000 Guineas.
“All the apprentices that have signed on to us this year have ridden winners and Willie has improved a lot in his riding,” reported Ger Flynn. “He gave her a good ride and kept his head and hopefully it’s onwards and upwards for both horse and jockey.”
Buffalo Blues (100/30), who had shaped with promise in a couple of fair races earlier in the season, secured the 10-furlong claimer for Ger Lyons and Colin Keane. The Sean Jones-owned gelding already looked to be on top when his nearest rival Future Frontier clipped a heel and came down early in the last furlong.In the closing stages Buffalo Blues contained the staying on favourite Discovery Lad by three-parts of a length.
Afterwards, the fourth, A Place Apart, was claimed for €12,000 by GBLOGB Ltd and he will now join Gavin Cromwell.
The winning rider picked up a one-day careless riding ban after the stewards looked into the incident in which Future Frontier came down.
“It’s quick ground out there, as quick as he would like,” reflected Shane Lyons. “He’s still a bit babyish and Colin said he had a look around when he got to the front but that he had plenty left when the second horse came at him.”
Andrew Breslin bounced back from a fall earlier in the evening to land the five-furlong handicap aboard Kieran Cotter’s Polly Douglas (9/1). The filly’s bid for a hat-trick came up short at Naas the previous weekend but she was restored to the peak of her powers here. Polly Douglas enjoyed a dream run through on the inner to strike the front well inside the last furlong and she edged out Aggression by a head.
“At the start of the season I told (owner-breeder) David Mooney that she’d win three this season so hopefully she goes and proves me wrong now,” commented Cotter. “Nothing came to light for her Naas run but she came out of that in good order so we took a chance and came here. Her sire, Le Cadre Noir, isn’t the most fashionable but they all run and win.”
There was quite a surprise lying in wait in the Lynn Lodge Stud Maiden as the 54-rated four-year-old He’s Complete (16/1) struck for Chris Hayes and Fozzy Stack.
First-time blinkers worked the oracle on the Royal Applause gelding who sat close to the pace from the outset of this near six-furlong event. From over a furlong out, He’s Complete, in the colours of David Keoghan, had the measure of the favourite Mirror Man and he went on to defeat that rival by two and a half lengths.
ACTING STEWARDS
R. Dore, L. McFerran, J. Collins, E. Galvin, M.F. O’Donoghue
HORSE TO FOLLOW
DUPLICATION (J.P. O’Brien): On his first start since December and his first venture outside his own age group, this colt posted a fine effort under top-weight to take third in the sprint handicap won by Polly Douglas. There are surely handicaps to be won with him through the second half of the year.