WHILE I won a few bob on the Tote having had all of €2 each-way on the 40/1 shot, the victory of the Stuart Crawford-trained Lily Du Berlais in the Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Santiago Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race at Leopardstown last Sunday saved the beleaguered bookmakers an even worse day than they were already experiencing.

The Crawfords brothers purchased the Shirocco bay for €25,000 as a three-year-old at the 2019 Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale to which she had been consigned on behalf of her Devon breeder, John Lightfoot, by Juliette Minton’s Mill House Stud.

When Lily Du Berlais made her successful racecourse debut, in a bumper at Perth last July under Brian Hughes, who said she was one of the nicest mares he had ridden, he ran in the colours of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede who were on hand to greet her on Sunday as was their racing manager, Anthony Bromley.

Exciting

The race produced the most exciting finish of the two-day Dublin Racing Festival and, while he only got up on the line between four rivals to score by a nose, Ben Crawford was in no doubt that the Grade 2 contest was in the bag.

It was great to see the two brothers enjoy the victory as they made their way to the winner’s enclosure and to read more about the win see pages 12 (Big Interview) and 26 (race report).

Last Thursday week, the Stuart Crawford-trained Saint D’Oroux, who is also owned by Munir and Souede but was ridden by James Bowen, won the concluding handicap hurdle at Kelso.

Also on the card, the Warren Ewing-bred Upandatit landed the near two-and-three-quarter-mile handicap chase for the Nick Alexander yard. When trained by Ewing, the now seven-year-old Winged Love gelding finished third twice in two four-year-old maidens.