Flat Season underway in earnest

Tipperary Racing Scene

On paper, Neolithic looked a very good chance before the opener at Gowran Park last Wednesday with how the weights were framed.

Rated 107 after his fine second in the Listed Gladness Stakes eleven days earlier – a race in which his more vaunted stable make Albert Einstein was well held - he was carrying the same weight as horses rated 19lbs inferior to him.

If the formbook suggested he would be hard to beat, the Ballydoyle-trained Neolithic kept his part of the bargain and won decisively by over three lengths at 10-11 favourite. Wayne Lordan was the man in the irons.

There was a little bit of a flex from Joseph O’Brien at Gowran last midweek with some unexposed types and he went back home with a treble.

Joey Sheridan was on board for the first two winners, both fillies with bright futures. Kicking off the spree was Sinmara in the mile maiden for fillies and she won with any amount in hand by six lengths at 5-4 favourite.

Sinmara had finished second in only prior start in a Curragh maiden last October.

“Very good run. Ours were maybe needing a run but she went through the line really well,” O’Brien said.

“The way she won today my immediate thought was to stick to a mile with her. I think she will be better if she can get a lead in a better race. She has stamina in her pedigree and we think she will get further.”

Sinmara races in the colours of American owner Wells Watson.

Next into the winners’ enclosure was Sindria who won the mile fillies handicap from her stable companion Greydreambeliever by over four lengths at 12-1.

This filly was sold out of the Dermot Weld yard last summer at Newmarket and it was her first success for the Owning Hill stable.

“They went a good pace and she relaxed better than I thought she might,” jockey Sheridan said.

“She handled that dead ground well. Whether it is a necessity or not we will have to wait and see.”

Light Up The Dark completed the hat-trick with the JP McManus mare starting the 7-2 favourite.

Jockey Declan McDonogh was able to creep from midfield into a challenging position from the final turn. It was only hands-and-heels stuff from there to win by over a length.

This mare is quite lightly raced for a five-year-old, she has just eight starts on her record. This was her first run for over seven months and she may have the scope to win a couple more.

Johnny Murtagh made sure one of the lower-rated horses in his yard found an opportunity when Clonbun collected the claimer.

This mile race was restricted to three-year-olds and Clonbun, sporting blinkers for the first time, was all out to hang on by half a length with Ben Coen taking the reins.

Carrying the colours of his breeder Colm Giffin, the winner returned a 6-1 chance.

“We have always liked this horse. Gowran is an on-pace track and our horses like to be ridden handy. He missed the start last time at the Curragh so we tried him with blinkers today,” Murtagh said.

There was another productive visit to Gowran Park for Joseph O’Brien on Thursday where he added two more winners. Tipp jockey Joey Sheridan was the beneficiary again, bringing his tally to four wins over the two days.

Stable jockey Dylan Browne McMonagle will be on the sidelines for a little longer after a tumble sustained towards the end of his spell in Hong Kong last month and others are entitled to prosper in his absence.

O’Brien and Sheridan won the opening mile maiden for three-year-old colts and geldings when Lunar Tide made virtually all at 11-4 and went in by just over a length.

The second success came the other way around. Rebel Moon blew the start of the fillies’ maiden over nearly ten furlongs but still had the ability to run past all her rivals and collect by a length and a half at 8-1.

This three-yar-old filly looks pretty smart and carries the colours of Emirati interests Al Shira’aa. She cost £500,000 as a yearling at Newmarket.

In the 0-60 handicap over a mile at Gowran Park on Thursday, the Conor O’Dwyer-trained Lady Arwen (7-1) just about gained the verdict.

Ridden by Sam Coen, the seven-year-old mare hung on by a short head, defying the late thrust by Miss Americana and Shane Foley.

“Everything went to plan, I got cover and she picked up well in the straight,” the apprentice said after his second win of the new season.

“She’s just so genuine and she really stuck her head out for me. I would like to thank Conor and his owners Hugo and Anne Kane for the ride.”

It wasn’t easy finding winners at Gowran on Thursday, most of all 80-1 Purple Moon, who ended up winning a like an odds-on chance!

Wexford trainer Pat O’Rourke gave Purple Moon, whom he owns and bred, his debut at the Curragh on the opening day of the season in mid-March.

On that occasion, the horse was drawn very wide, he raced freely without cover and was beaten some way from home.

At the Kilkenny track last week, the three-year-old had a much kinder position, close and covered up behind an even tempo. Off the home turn, jockey Jimmy Dalton asked his mount to lengthen and the pair won by over five lengths from the 11-4 favourite Mano Chicago rated 87.

David Marnane saddled a 236-1 treble on the final night of Friday racing at Dundalk with Luke McAteer in the saddle for each one.

The Bansha trainer and Donegal jockey have had a productive spell over the autumn-into-spring season on the Louth polytrack. They also combined for a treble last November amid other winners together.

Jered Maddox, ten years young, won for the 13th time in his long career and got the spree going in the six-furlong handicap as an 11-4 chance.

“He’s a legend,” McAteer said. “They were thinking of retiring him but the last day I rode him he was back to himself and I thought he was a bit unlucky. Today he was brilliant, he did everything right. He’s a great horse to have around the place.”

Allsortz was next to score, making all as a 7-4 favourite in the six-furlong maiden. It got tight in the finish, but the Marnane horse hung on by a neck from the 5-2 joint-second favourite Real Encounter.

“In some maidens they don’t go quick enough for him so today we elected to make the running and it worked. I was kind of blindsided by the runner-up, but my lad battled well for me,” McAteer reported on Racing TV.

The hat-trick arrived when Golddream won on just his second start in a maiden at 22-1. Like Allsortz, he carried the green colours of longtime stable supporters MRC International.

“He is quite good, this horse, I would say. Luke thinks he is one of the best we have,” Marnane said.

“This looked a strong race but he was tough and quick and he stayed well. He is a similar horse to Tokenomics, another horse we have by The Grey Gatsby.”

Tokenomics is rated 103 so this comparison might be heeded.

Leopardstown’s first Flat meeting of the season is often when the bigger stables bring out the big guns for the first time. So, it proved again on Sunday when Aidan O’Brien went home with a treble, two of those wins in Group 3 trials.

Ryan Moore was on board for the return of True Love; a Royal Ascot and Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes winner last season.

Further Group 1 success looks achievable judged on how she won the Group 3 Ballylinch Stud Priory Belle Stakes over seven furlongs. Drawn out in 15, True Love was on the pace but wide and without cover throughout. Still, that didn’t matter as she finished off along the near rail and won well by over a length at 3-1.

“She is a big, pacey mare. Whether she will get the mile or not, it is hard to know,” O’Brien later said on Racing TV.

It is unclear as yet which Guineas she will be aimed at initially, Newmarket or France.

Ballydoyle fielded four in the Group 3 Ballysax Stakes over ten furlongs with ante-post Derby favourite Pierre Bonnard the even-money favourite. The latter could only finish seventh behind stable mates Christmas Day (11-1) and Endorsement.

“I was thinking our horses would need the run. They are all having a blow after. The winner is a smart horse. Wayne [Lordan, jockey] said he will stay further. He is a nice, uncomplicated horse who travels and quickens,” O’Brien continued.

“Pierre Bonnard will leave that run well behind him next time. He might come back here for the Derrinstown Derby Trial. We felt he would need two runs before the Derby if that is where he goes.”

The hat-trick was complete when Cape Cod won the concluding handicap over ten furlongs at 3-1 by half a length for Ryan Moore.

Trainer Fozzy Stack has started the new season well and will have been very pleased with how Thesecretadversary won the Group 3 Ballylinch Stud Red Rocks Stakes over seven furlongs.

Seamie Heffernan was on board as the smart three-year-old who raced handily and then kicked clear to win by over two lengths at 6-1.

“He travelled and he quickened. The race worked out perfectly. I would have won coming from further back, too,” the veteran rider said.

“He was by far the best horse today. He handles any ground. He will stay further no problem, a mile and a quarter would be fine. He’s classy.”

Thesecretadversary is entered in the Guineas at Newmarket and the Dante at York. Connections have yet to plot their next move with this very bright prospect.

UPCOMING MEETINGS

Limerick – Thursday, April 16th (first race 1.35pm)

Ballinrobe – Friday, April 17th (first race 5.00pm)

Bellewstown – Saturday, April 18th (first race 2.05pm)

Curragh – Sunday, April 19th (first race 1.15pm)

Tramore – Sunday, April 19th (first race 2.08pm)