A FAMILY that served Johnny Murtagh so well during his riding days yielded further cheer for him as a trainer as Chicago Bear got him off the mark for the winter season with a display that bodes well for this colt’s prospects in 2021.

From one of the great Aga Khan pedigrees which supplied Murtagh and John Oxx with a trio of Group 1 winners in the 1990s, which came courtesy of Ebadiyla, Enzeli and Edabiya, the Samuel Mencoff-owned Chicago Bear won the seven-furlong two-year-old maiden. The 15/2 shot had finished eighth on his debut at this track earlier in the month when contesting a hot-looking maiden won by Lough Derg and he looked to be all the better for that run. Ben Coen produced the Siyouni-Ebalista colt with his effort inside the last quarter of a mile and the pair got the better of the front running favourite Shackleton Hero in the closing stages to score by a neck.