PAUL Flynn is on course to record his best season yet on the flat and his speedy stable flagbearer Little Queenie kept momentum up for the Co Longford yard with a gutsy success off a career-high mark.

Almost a year to the day of this €21,000 sprint handicap victory under Robert Whearty, Michael Connolly’s spirited grey mare was winning off a mark of 69 at Naas.

She has continued to shovel on the coal ever since, scoring here off a rating of 91 to provide Flynn with his 10th flat win of the season. That is just two shy of his best return of 12 last term.

Whearty said of the winning 7/2 favourite: “She’s real tough - she’s probably not the biggest in the world, but she’s hardy.

“The last day [at the Curragh in the Rockingham Handicap when down the field], the ground probably caught us out a little bit. She got a bit excited beforehand in the stalls and just gave herself a little bit of a knock. As soon as I got into a battle today, she toughed it out well.”

Tokenomics on top

Favourite backers were again in clover when 5/2 market leader Tokenomics, trained by David Marnane, got off the mark in the I Want My Pension Minded By Protection & Prosperity Financial Services Handicap over seven furlongs.

Ridden by Luke McAteer, who sported the MRC International colours, the 75-rated top-weight certainly wasn’t winning out of turn and kept on well to get the better of Amo Racing’s Elegant Madame by a length.

Marnane said: “He’s a lovely, big, genuine horse - he’s huge. We probably won’t see the best of him until next year, but hopefully he can win a couple for us before we let him go at the end of the year.”

The only winner at a double-figure price on the card came in the concluding mile-and-a-half handicap, as Robyn Donaghue-Leahy delivered a well-judged ride on Miss Paloma (10/1) to shrug off the attentions of Seamie Heffernan and Avondale.

This was the Henry de Bromhead-trained mare’s second win in three starts since her switch from Sir Mark Prescott’s yard to the Co Waterford base, both coming on the back of absences for owner E J Lawson Maher.

THE well-backed Rough Diamond capitalised on dropping to claiming company for the first time in the Catherine Allison & Co. Solicitors Claiming Race, notching his first win over seven furlongs in the hands of Ben Coen - much to the delight of trainer Eddie Lynam.

The homebred seven-year-old, who is owned by Trevor Dalzell and the winning trainer, obliged at 5/1 and was claimed for €12,00 to be trained by Tristan Davidson in Britain.

A length and a half separated him and much-improved 50/1 shot Bucaneer’s Spirit, who now joins Jack Davison for €5,000, while the third, Chestnutter, was claimed by John McConnell for €6,000.

Lynam said: “He was previously rated in the 90s and I couldn’t believe this morning he was 10/1 or 12/1. He has never run against horses like that before.

“If they [bookmakers] are going to be silly, you have to put manners on them! Trevor is a great supporter and it’s nice to get him another winner. He’s having a nice drink on holidays now and is a few quid better off.”

Coen double

Coen didn’t wait long to bring up a double as the Johnny Murtagh-trained Shamsuddin (4/5 favourite) gained a deserved first win in the Fairways Dundalk Hotel Maiden over a mile.

The Aga Khan homebred, who is a half-brother to high-class former stablemate Shartash, had far too much for his rivals and pulled two and three quarters of a length clear of Michael O’Callaghan’s Genoah.

“He had a couple of good runs and has been coming along,” said Murtagh.

“I thought a mile around here would suit him well. He quickened up well and he did what he had to do. Ben gave him a peach of a ride. We will probably look at a handicap now. He should improve a bit too.”

Aeronautic takes off

Murtagh, Coen and the Aga Khan were narrowly denied another winner in the PD Lift Trucks Ltd Maiden over an extended mile and a quarter when their Raydamann was worn down in the dying strides by Aeronautic (17/2) for Joseph O’Brien, Dylan Browne McMonagle and Newtown Anner Stud.

“The penny only really dropped with him in the last half a furlong,” Browne McMonagle said of the former barrier trial winner.

“He’s a big boy and is only going to get better; he’ll get a mile and a half too. He probably is going to be all the better on grass. He’ll learn plenty from today.”

ADO McGuinness ended a difficult week on a bright note by sending out a Dundalk double in both divisions of the Gift & Art Gallery Dundalk Handicap through two of the yard’s regular representatives.

Victory for Sirjack Thomas and Comfort Line, both owned by Dooley Thoroughbreds and the latter owned in partnership with Martin White, would have come as a welcome boost for the trainer, whose popular brother Johnnie was laid to rest on Wednesday.

Success in the first division for Sirjack Thomas (15/2) under Adam Caffrey could set up a Galway Festival bid for the former dual Ballybrit winner.

“He needed a few pounds to get into one of the lower-grade handicaps at Galway, so he’ll get into it now,” said McGuinness.

“We’ve got great fun out of him and he has slipped down the ratings. It’s great for Adam and the whole yard, we have had a rough week.”

Comfort Line, also ridden by Caffey, relished returning to the all-weather surface for his first win of 2024, toughing it out well to beat fellow 5/1 co-favourite Daonethatgotaway by three-quarters of a length.

McGuinness said: “I ran him last night [when mid-field at Leopardstown] and most people probably wouldn’t have run him back. He went to the beach this morning and he did half an hour there. He grubbed up last night and we just said we had nothing to lose.

“When he gets back into that grade, he’s dangerous. He’s probably after booking a ticket west as well!”