GARY Carroll and Shane Foley dominated proceedings almost to the exclusion of the rest of their colleagues as they reeled off a treble apiece. Carroll was the first to reach the three-winner mark for the afternoon after dominating the first half of the day.
In From The Cold, one of two winners for trainer Michael Mulvany, supplied the middle leg of the treble in the near six-furlong nursery where he was reappearing just four days after coming from out of the clouds to finish a close third in the nursery at Galway.
The shorter trip of this race wasn’t certain to suit the 4/1 chance but he got himself into a good position turning for home before getting to the front. He defeated Yolo Aris by two lengths to take advantage of his old mark of 63 before the 7lb hike he picked up for Galway came into effect. This gelding can progress again over longer trips.
The card began with a winner for Carroll and Mulvany as Grove Hill (8/1), a 64-rated six-year-old daughter of Millenary, bagged the 10-furlong claimer. This mare finished down the field in two outings at Galway last week, but over the course of the season she had shown enough to suggest a victory like this was within her reach.
She accounted for the 33/1 shot Heir Of Excitement who went close to giving jockey Cathal Gahan a winner from his first ride.
The winner was not claimed but Pat Martin picked up the runner-up for €8,000. Sean Byrne will take charge of the third-placed Eastern Racer who cost €12,000 and John McConnell secured the fourth-placed Cash In Mind for €4,000.
Carroll treble
Joe Murphy, another of the rider’s longtime allies, supplied the final leg of the Carroll treble as Kodiqueen bolted up in the three-year-old handicap over an extended five furlongs.
The Ballylinch Stud-owned 7/1 shot looked a likely future winner based on her close third at Fairyhouse a couple of months ago and made no mistake on her return to the track, handing out a near five-length beating to the reliable Trueba. The winner is the first horse that Murphy has trained for Ballylinch.
Foley treble
Shane Foley’s hat-trick began in fitting style as he teamed up with yet another victorious Jessica Harrington-trained two-year-old filly in For The Trees who landed the Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden over an extended five furlongs.
This daughter of the freshman sire Ivawood produced a nice display from the front to justify evens favouritism, beating the useful Believe In Beauty by a length and three-quarters.
This was a deserved success for this filly after she was nailed late on in a similar race at Leopardstown last month. For The Trees, who cost €21,000 as a yearling, is owned by Russell Jones, Susan Prichard Jones and the winning trainer.
Willie McCreey’s Elite Trooper Grey (11/4), whose first eight runs yielded seven placings and creditable runs behind Sovereign, Micro Manage and Trossachs, deservedly got his turn under Foley in the Kevin Egan Cars Handicap over a mile and a quarter.
The Zhang Yuesheng-owned son of Fast Company had to bide his time to get a run but he finished out well to defeat Takeachancejimmy by half a length. The ease in the ground was certainly a help to this son of the high-class soft-ground performer Evening Time.
Pearl Warrior (9/2) completed the Foley treble in the three-year-old 10-furlong handicap and was a most deserving winner on a couple of fronts. Firstly, this Paddy Woods-owned son of Dunaden was a worthy winner on the form he showed to be placed on his first three handicap runs; secondly Pearl Warrior was ending a frustrating run for Johnny Murtagh that had seen the trainer send out 17 horses to finish in the first four over the previous three weeks.
This still unexposed gelding won easily from the front to score by four and three-quarter lengths and he could easily progress further.
Apprentice Andrew Slattery, who missed the Galway Festival on account of a fall late last month, marked his first day back in the saddle with a victory on Kastasa (11/4) in the featured Irish Stallion Farms EBF Connacht Oaks Handicap.
This made it a highly impressive 21 victories for the season for Slattery, who continues to lead the chase behind Oisin Orr in the apprentice riders’ championship.
The victorious Aga Khan-owned filly was turning in a lovely effort on her first outing for three months. She produced a nice display to account for Hayyel by three-quarters of a length and she can surely do better still after just four career starts. The rider was making it four winners from 11 rides for Dermot Weld.
Manchester-based
The colours carried to victory by Saltonstall in last Tuesday’s Galway Mile were again to the fore courtesy of the Adrian McGuinness-trained Sirjack Thomas in the Maddens Bar & Restaurant Rated Race over seven furlongs.
Colin Keane was on board the 11/4 chance who was too strong for the front-running favourite Lincoln on his fourth start since being bought for 60,000gns last autumn.
Sirjack Thomas is owned by the Manchester-based Dooley Brothers and the Hope Partnership. A handicap on Irish Champions Weekend and a switch to hurdling later in the year are the likely options for the winner.