JOSEPH O’Brien’s four runners in Europe’s richest two-year-old race, the Goffs Million, came away with a total of €675,000 between them. Apples And Bananas (5/2) took top honours after battling neck-and-neck to the line with Aidan O’Brien’s blinkered 9/4 favourite Antelope Canyon. The pair rallied three lengths clear of the winner’s stablemates, Celtic Motif, who encountered plenty of traffic, and Valencia.
O’Brien junior’s charge was completing a hat-trick, following a Listed win at Deauville and maiden victory at Killarney. After complimenting “a very good, aggressive ride” by Dylan Browne McMonagle, the trainer said:
“He’s obviously better at a mile, but it’s a great pot to win. It’s a fantastic incentive for people to buy horses next week and, hopefully, we’ll be going back to try and find one for next year.”
A trip to Saint Cloud or Doncaster (for the Futurity Trophy) is next on the cards for MV Magnier’s €130,000 buy from Baroda Stud on behalf of owners Maclennan/Shanahan/Magnier/Smith.
Bolo Neighs wins a pretty penne
Ralph Beckett’s amusingly-named Bolo Neighs (5/1) proved a cut above in the earlier Goffs 500, which attracted a disappointing field of 10. Alex Elliott’s €82,000 purchase had shown previous promise, including behind Aesterius, and realised his potential with a seven-length win under Chris Hayes.
Hayes confirmed it was as straightforward as it seemed: “Once he got to the rail, he pricked his ears, I only had to give him one flick and barely push him out.” The Ed Walker-trained Mollie Foster claimed runners-up honours, while the Jack Davison-trained Lightning Bear finished half a length further back in third.
After accepting the €250,000 prize, owner Peter Mellett declared it his biggest win to date, outdoing the Royal Hunt Cup victory of Jimi Hendrix, of whom he owns a share through Chelsea Thoroughbreds. The insurance broker explained how Bolo Neighs’ performance was even more special, given his recovery from a broken tibia following his second start.
“It was amazing to see him win well; to pull away and never be in doubt.”
IMAD Alsagar owned the beaten favourite in the Goffs 500, but gained compensation as winning breeder of Group 2 Montane Developments Beresford Stakes victor Hotazhell (2/1 joint-favourite).
Jessica Harrington’s charge is now a dual group winner, having won the Tyros Stakes in July, before separating Henri Matisse and Scorthy Champ in the Futurity Stakes. He was forced to work for his latest win, digging deep under Shane Foley to beat the progressive Tennessee Stud by three-parts of a length, with another half a length back to British raider Windlord in third.
Harrington was always confident, by the sound of things. “He was always going to tough it out. He’s a good horse. He’ll probably go for the Futurity Trophy, that looks the logical next step as he stays the mile very well, he gets every yard of it.
“I’m delighted for Bonnie and Tommy Hamilton, who own him; that’s the Silverton Hill partnership, and they’re the ones that owned Pathfork before.”
Steady sprinting
Sprinting suggests a sense of urgency, but Eddie Lynam has proven patience is the best approach, and did so once again with Andrew Coen’s progressive home-bred Keke. A three-and-three-quarter length success in the SBK Joe McGrath Handicap was the most comprehensive of four wins this season for the son of Dandy Man, who earned a rating of 68, when landing a Bellewstown maiden last September.
Lynam hopes to remain in handicap company and, on the chances of moving into stakes company, he noted: “In those, you’re giving fillies five (lbs) and the way the Irish racing system is, you’re running for less money than this. You’ve got to pick your pots.”
Three of Keke’s wins came under Billy Lee, on which a smiling Lynam commented: “Billy would put years on you watching him, but he knows what he’s doing. He just won a bit far today.”
Johnny Feane, meanwhile, is looking forward to stepping up in class with impressive debut winner Fregada (12/1). The daughter of Kodiac won the opening Bermingham Cameras EBF Maiden in a manner more stylish than the winning margin of three-parts of a length would suggest, while the well-backed Ballydoyle newcomer Bounty (11/4 favourite) finished second.
Nathan Crosse was the winning rider, while Charlotte Musgrave and James Hanly held the respective titles of winning owner and breeder, as they do with Feane’s blacktype sprinter Ano Syra.
“We had her in the Moyglare,” Feane later explained. “She’s been galloping all over anything we have. She’s still a baby, but once the penny drops with her and she gets a bit of racing, she’ll be really good.”
BLACKTYPE may also be on the cards for Mark Molloy’s improving four-year-old Just For One Day, who landed the Fitzpatrick’s Mercedes-Benz Maiden by a length and a half under Killian Leonard.
Well-beaten at 50/1 on debut, she outran odds of 100/1 over course and distance last month, and was the subject of market support on her third start over six furlongs. “She’s been promising, she’s just a slow burner,” Molloy explained.
“Luckily, she has very patient owners (Mrs Paul Shanahan and David Wachman), which is great. We’ll look for another race and, further down the road, I’d like to think she’d develop into a black type filly.”
Poor prize for unlucky Porter
While valuable prize funds were the talking point at the Curragh, it was disappointing to see two horses rated 90 and upwards among those racing for Saturday’s finale, the SBK Handicap, worth €20,000.
Though a win was welcome for Ado McGuinness’s likeable No More Porter (4/1 favourite), first prize of €12,000 seemed inadequate for both him and the 90-rated runner-up Chicago Fireball.
“He’s been unlucky,” McGuinness said of the Dylan Browne McMonagle-partnered and Dooley Thoroughbreds-owned winner. “It’s the first time he’s won since we bought him, but he’s been second in a Galway Mile and second in three or four premier handicaps. He’s a very good horse in those big handicaps, where they go fast. They went good and fast today.”
A feeling money can’t buy
A first Curragh winner is priceless, as amateur rider Emily Costello can attest to, after partnering the Andy Slattery-trained Narragansett (20/1) to victory in the Glenroyal Hotel Student Derby Handicap.
The daughter of two-time champion point-to-point rider Dermot Costello gained her first success in the saddle last January and, after spending last summer riding out for Slattery, was rewarded with her first rules success aboard the trainer’s Avakate in a ladies’ bumper at Roscommon.
On her latest win, the agricultural science student commented: “I was probably plenty close to the pace, but in fairness, he was good all the way. I’ve had about 20 rides on the track, I rode a bumper winner for Andy, but this was my first ride at the Curragh and I’m delighted to get a winner here.”