Long journey pays off for Stephen Ryan

Former Castlequarter, but now Milestone based trainer Stephen Ryan, made the long trek to Down Royal pay off on Friday when he saddled Red Pearl to land the two mile mares maiden hurdle, taking plenty of money out of the ring in the process.

A bumper winner back in 2015, the daughter of Kayf Tara has hit the crossbar on a few occasions since so she was not winning out of turn. Given a masterful ride by Davy Russell, the eight-year-old was settled in mid division before taking closer order entering the straight. She seemed to hit a bad patch here, losing a few places but once Russell got serious with her she picked up well and in spite of a mistake at the final flight she showed plenty of resolve to battle back and land the spoils by a length.

Bred by the late Richard Maher from near Thurles whose family are still involved in the ownership of the mare, the winner disappointed at Galway after a good showing at Punchestown where she was second of 25 runners over two and a half miles. Stephen Ryan told me that she is a good ground animal; the unexpected torrential rain at the Western venue turned the going against her. Conditions here were much more to her liking and she showed her true form. Depending on how she comes out of the race she might go to Listowel but as the trainer emphasized, the ground is the key to her but on the evidence supplied here she can again before going into winter quarters.

 

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