BOLGER’S FILLY IS STARR IN CO. KERRY

DAY TWO REPORT RELISHING the rain-softened ground Panstarr bagged the listed Edmund & Josie Whelan Memorial Listowel Stakes for Jim Bolger, Godolphin and Kevin Manning on the second day of the Listowel Festival.

The Pivotal filly (above, blue silk), sent off at 8/1, raced prominently, was in front turning for home and displayed commendable battling qualities, answering Manning’s every call, to see off Ship Of Dreams by three-quarters of a length.

“She’s a very versatile and tough filly that likes soft ground,” was how Bolger’s representative Ger Flynn summed up the win.

“The low draw and soft ground were the key. And Kevin gave her an unbelievable drive.”

Aidan O’brien completed a double as progressive three-year-old Astronomer, the 2/1 favourite, completed a hat-trick under Donnacha in the Sky Sports Racing Launching 2019 Handicap, scoring readily by seven lengths.

Afterwards the kockey said: “He’s lazy and laid-back in his races, but he’s not a bad horse and might improve again when he steps up further in trip.”

The Ballydoyle double was completed when Mount Tabora, ridden by Seamus Heffernan, broke his ‘maiden’ at the fifth attempt in the Irish Stallion farms Premier Nursery.

He got the better of top-weight Zander, whose rider Colin Keane received a three-day ban for using his whip with excessive frequency.

A clear-cut winner in Galway,

Sheila Lavery’s Burning Question returned to winning form when bolting-up by no less than 14 lengths for Gary Carroll in the one-mile fillies handicap.

And Ben Coen joined Killian Leonard on the 16-winner mark for the season, at the top of the apprentice title race, when landing the opening two-year-old maiden on the Andy Slattery-trained Check My Pulse.