Hawthorn Cree beats Motown pair in 325 final

IT might have happened in the GMHD juvenile classic final that the man who won the two semi-finals wound up winning the final, even with one of the semi-final winners an absentee, but there was no such luck for Liam Dowling in the final of the Quilter and Edwards MRCVS Coursing Bred N0 325 Sweepstake (winner, €850) at Tralee Track last Saturday night.

Dowling, of course, has much bigger fish to fry in the €80,000-to-the-winner Con and Annie Kirby Sweepstake at Limerick, but, when you have a strong double hand in a final of any description, you are entitled to believe that you will win.

One of the Dowling finalists, Ballymac Motown, was even-money favourite, very justifiably so, and his other semi-final winner, Ballymac Killown, was 5/2.

However, they didn’t have the best of draws in traps 6 and 5, respectively, and, as it turned out, neither got the run of the race, especially Ballymac Motown.

It was a different story with the 6/1 rank outsider of the field, Hawthorn Cree, which ran a real blinder from trap 4 to beat Ballymac Motown by three and a half lengths in 18.08, with short head back to Game Charmer.

Winning owner, Patrick O’Connor, of Ballyduff, saw his bitch sweep into the lead around the opening bend and the April ’15 daughter of Thomas The Tank and Cree Mór has to be acclaimed as a very worthy winner. She paid €22.20 to a €1 win stake on the tote.

There were plenty of other good performances on the night and the Gneeveguilla-owned Rafa Babys Baby particularly impressed by running away with the eighth race (A2 525) in 28.80, which was the fastest run of the night for the standard trip.

Other winners: Net Amount, 18.31; Sporting Event, 29.53; Portinard Eagle, 17.86; Fibonacci, 29.64; Stormy Pippa, 29.25; Movealong Ken, 29.14; Baltoability, 42.62; Skips Dubh, 29.17; Saleen Ash, 28.94.