BLESSED with favourable weather conditions and thrilling finishes throughout the card, the crowds who attended the East Galway fixture on the lands of Billy Treacy didn’t go home disappointed with the judge being called into action on no fewer than four occasions.

Owner-breeder Sean Reilly who has been a long-time supporter of Ciaran Murphy and the Charlestown Racing yard looks to have unearthed another nice prospect in the form of the debutante Dream Shadow (4/1 - 6/1), a daughter of My Dream Boat, who was a facile winner of the four-year-old mares’ maiden.

The outsider of six in the market, she sat in mid-division always travelling ominously well in the hands of Eoin Finnegan before unleashing a challenge on the run to two out.

She quickly showed a devastating turn of foot and put distance between her rivals with consummate ease before staying on powerfully to the line to score by six lengths.

“We were very happy with her coming here today, usually that family they are five-year-olds, but this one had been showing signs all year that we would get a run into her,” Murphy said.

“She worked very well last week, and we said we would come here. She’s going to be a smart filly in time and I’m delighted for Sean Reilly as he’s the most loyal owner, I’m absolutely thrilled for him, we have had graded winners together and he continues to support us.”

Together

It was a more tightly-run affair in the geldings’ equivalent, with a line of four horses jumping the penultimate fence together.

It was the Sam Curling-trained Patricks Wells (6/1), a son of Mount Nelson, who stepped up markedly from his initial outing at Ballycahane in March when finishing sixth, to prevail in the colours of Toni Quail under a powerful Pa King drive to score by three quarters of a length.

“He was only just ready to run the first day, Toni [Quail] who works for us owns him so it’s great,” Curling said.

“He’s a grand horse and Pa [King] gave him a nice ride. He jumps really well and came on a lot from the first day so he will be sold now.”

It was a case of missile by name and missile by nature as John Nallen’s Minella Missile (5/1) finished with a wet sail to landed the five-year-old geldings’ maiden.

A fine-looking son of Beat Hollow, he raced towards the rear of mid-division throughout the contest before coming with one late surge.

Overdrive

Having looked a beaten force before two out when he was almost some 10 lengths adrift, he was still only in fourth jumping the final fence and looked far from the likely winner until he suddenly kicked into overdrive under Bertie Finn to get up and score by a length in what was the finish of the day.

“He ran in Dromahane a fortnight ago and he just got stuck in the ground it was gluey ground,” Nallen said.

“He’s a nice horse, he’s a half-brother to Monbeg Genius, who was third in the Ultima at Cheltenham, he has just taken time.”

MAXINE O’Sullivan forged her way back to the top of the lady riders’ table curtesy of the debutant Meetmeinthemorning (3/1), a son of Mamool, who scored in the older maiden for her father Eugene.

Sitting close to the pace throughout, the winner struck the front before two-out, but he was soon tackled by the Denis Murphy-trained Jet Patrol, with the pair putting clear daylight between themselves and the opposition as the pair locked strides right the way to the line.

Carrying the colours of Clare man Eamonn Duggan, the winner fought tenaciously to deny the more experienced Jet Patrol by a head.

“He was very green, that was the first time he’s really galloped on grass because he’s not in that long,“ the winning handler stated.

“We think a lot of him and he’s a nice horse going forward. Maxine knew him and rode him accordingly, we had to be patient with him as he had a little bit of trouble early on. As a foal he was a bit behind, so we were patient with him.”

Fresh from running a creditable third at Cork in a mares’ hunter chase, Fairland (9/2) looked a strong pick on paper to open her account over fences in the mares’ maiden and she duly obliged for handler Andrew Slattery.

This daughter of Ask who was sporting the silks of Ronan Tynan, sat in mid-division under Adam Ryan before making smooth progress to take a share of the lead two out.

She galloped resolutely to the line fending off the challenge from the fast finishing Seventy Eight Team to just prevail by a neck and she will likely now return to the track for a summer campaign.

Fresh from supplying Hennessy with her first success as a handler at Dromahane a week earlier, this son of Carlo Bank relished the underfoot conditions as he produced a fine front-running display leading from pilar to post under a confident ride.

Spring healed at every fence, the winner took lengths out of the opposition and kept finding plenty under Hennessy’s urgings before cosily defeating Eagle Moon by a length and a half at the line.

“He came out of last week absolutely bouncing, he was flying,” Hennessy said.

“I knew the ground would be good up here and thought it would take a fair horse to beat him. He can’t even walk in soft ground, he just loves that ground and dominating out in front,” she added.

Prolific Profile (C. Bowe): The son of Pour Moi ran with credit when beaten just over a length in what was a close finish to the four-year-old geldings’ maiden. The €36,000 purchase looks a winner in waiting.