FOR the second evening in succession, Dermot Weld struck with a highly promising Moyglare Stud-owned filly as Search For A Song did what the market expected and made short work of her five rivals in the 10-furlong fillies’ maiden.
This half-sister to former Rosewell House luminaries Free Eagle and Sapphire didn’t load on her intended debut several weeks previously but there was no such drama this time as she showed just why she holds a host of big race entries.
The 4/6 favourite did everything at her leisure through this 10-furlong race and after moving to the front inside the last quarter of a mile she was never subjected to strong pressure by Chris Hayes to win by four lengths.
Twelve months ago this race was won by the subsequent Grade 1 winner Athena and it often tends to go to a smart sort, so this Kerrygold Irish Oaks entrant looks one to keep a close eye on over the next few months.
“She’s a lovely, kind-tempered filly and we’ve just built up her confidence. We’ve done a lot of work with her (regarding the stalls) but she’s just claustrophobic,” said Weld. “She’s a filly with lots of potential and the logical next step for her would be the Listed Oaks Trial at Naas at the end of June.”
An industrious few weeks for Edward O’Grady on the flat got even better as he sent out the 33/1 shot Law Breaker to make a winning debut in the Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden.
This son of Lawman, who carries the colours of Kay Russell, produced a really nice effort for Declan McDonogh to come from a long way back and nail the favourite Laurel Grove in the final yards.
This O’Grady homebred is the seventh winner from nine runners produced by the Dansili mare Chervil and he could well turn out to be the best of them on this evidence as he can only improve from here.
McDonogh, whose wife Eimear gave birth to the couple’s first child (Poppy) the previous day, earlier teamed up with Joseph O’Brien to land the 10-furlong claimer with Esprit De Lumiere.
The 7/2 favourite had it all to do turning for home but he too was produced with a sustained charge to lead in the final yards, defeating Cafe Sydney by a head.
The half-brother to Just The Judge is owned by his breeder Joan Keaney Dempsey. The third-placed Magic Shuffle was claimed to continue his career in Britain.
Rainbow Moonstone was an odds-on shot to give McDonogh a treble in the seven-furlong conditions race but this three-runner affair went to Klute (4/1) who was the outsider of the field.
This Jessica Harrington-trained son of Kodiac, who is owned by The Long Wait Partnership, made all the running for Shane Foley to record a comfortable success over Cosmic Horizon. A step-up to listed level is on the cards for Klute whose season began with a good effort behind Decrypt at Cork.
Trainers Joseph O’Brien, Willie McCreery and Fozzy Stack in the weigh room \ carolinenorris.ie
APPRENTICE Joey Sheridan recorded the second success of his career as Make A Challenge (11/4) dominated the seven-furlong handicap from the front to continue Denis Hogan’s tremendous run of form.
This former Godolphin inmate, who is a half-brother to last week’s impressive Cork winner Highland Dress, had this race in safe keeping a full two furlongs from home as he built on a solid second behind Mujid at Killarney earlier in the month. The four-year-old carries the colours of the trainer’s father, Martin.
Ben Coen, who made such a strong challenge for last year’s apprentice championship, moved on to the seven-winner mark for the season when he picked up the 45-65 rated 10-furlong apprentice riders’ handicap aboard Pat Flynn’s Sleepy Head (6/1).
In the colours of the late Bill Foley, this gelding was winning the fourth race of his career as he came out the right side of a three-way battle with the recent Cork winner Royal Admiral and Roses Queen.
There was a 16/1 surprise lying in wait in the seven-furlong three-year-old handicap as Guiding struck for Shane Nolan and Conor Hoban. This €1,000 yearling purchase had run a couple of solid races in defeat lately and took a further step forward here to win by a length and a quarter after brushing aside the strong-travelling Queen Guanhumara early in the last furlong.
Guiding is the first horse to be owned by Neil Cox.