Headley’s Nancy goes inside 29 on slow night

THE news that there would be no first-round heats of the Lee Strand A3 550 Sweepstake definitely affected the attendance at Tralee on Friday night, but, needless to say, it will be a different story when the event does get underway this Friday night – with, hopefully, an entry that will do adequate justice to this great annual event.

Racing manager Kieran Casey is hoping for 48 entries as against the advertised 72, with his hand being restricted by the fact that novices are prohibited from entering.

There were ten races last Friday night instead of the usual twelve and, on going rated .20 slow, just one winner managed to get inside 29.00 seconds for the standard trip – marginally so, on 28.99. That was Headleys Nancy, owned by Nick E Cotter, of Knocknagoshel.

This lady ran from trap 2 in the eighth race, for A1 class, and she could be backed at 3/1, with the market dominated by 6/4 joint favourites, Loher Grove and Sawdust Club. She quickly became the one to beat by cutting out the running, but Loher Grove, which flew the back straight, looked a huge danger when challenging her rounding the third bend.

However, that third bend is a notoriously bad place to see a challenge through and Loher Grove was forced to seriously check. It allowed Headleys Nancy to establish clear control and she hit the line four lengths ahead of another 6/4 joint favourite, Sawdust Club, with a length and a half back to Loher Grove.

Just one spot outside 29 seconds in the ninth race (A0 525) was the Anthony Slattery-trained Sign On Aki. It was hard to see Grogeen Country (trap 1) being caught when he held a six-length lead rounding the third bend, but Sign On Aki, which was sent off the 6/4 favourite from a trap 6 draw, managed to pull him back and beat him by three-quarters of a length.

Earlier, the Chris Houlihan-trained Cashen Kaboodle achieved the outstanding feat of five wins from six starts when clocking 17.71 (.10 slow) for 325yds and justifying 4/6 favouritism in the process.

The other winners were Boher Daisey, 18.10; Knock Duty, 29.75; Toast Of Brazil, 18.00; Pumpkin Bobby, 29.82; Thismagicmoment, 29.46; Beepers Paddy, 31.64 (570yds); Steeple Rd Swift, 29.18.