Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KEANE’S A DIAMOND
Gem of a win for Colin and Hill
SIX-YEAR-OLD mare, Diamond Hill, made a triumphant return to Ballybrit when winning the listed Ardilaun Hotel Oyster Stakes in Galway.
Backed into 5/2 favourite, the Willie Mullins-trained mare swooped down the outside under Colin Keane to get the better of Camphor by a neck and registering the most significant win of her career.
“She travelled well into the race and was good and game in the end,” said the winning rider.
“She’ll be a nice mare for some of the big staying handicaps before the end of the season.”
On the supporting card, in-form Dermot Weld
(inset) recorded a double with
Bashiyr (Chris Hayes) and Shehreen (Oisin Orr) while Aidan O’brien won the two-year-old maiden for the seventh time in nine years with the impressive Persia, ridden by Donnacha.
IT’S two-year-old day in Naas, with an eight-race card, confined to juveniles, facing punters.
And, despite an absence since The Curragh’s Guineas meeting back in May, Paddy Twomey’s Sunday Sweet is napped to open her account in the six-furlong fillies maiden.
A daughter of Elzaam, Sundays Sweet made a hugely encouraging debut at headquarters, recovering from a tardy start to hold every chance before finishing fourth, beaten little more than a length, behind subsequent Group 2 winner Albigna and a couple of Ballydoyle fillies, Tango and Precious Moments, with two subsequent winners behind.
Clearly, Twomey’s filly suffered a setback in the wake of that debut run and, given time to recover and develop, that experience and the level of ability shown should make her tough to beat today, although significant market moves for newcomers, particularly from Ballydoyle, should be noted.
A number of fascinating newcomers will make the day interesting, none more so than Ten Sovereign’s half-sister Eden Quay, by No Nay Never, in the five-furlong maiden.
The Jessica Harrington-trained Chasing The Dawn might put her experience to good use in the seven-furlong fillies maiden.
Second to the smart Petite Mustique on her debut in Galway, this filly filled fourth spot behind Nurse Barbara in a six-furlong maiden in Cork on her second start.
The winner franked the form when pipped in a listed race at Leopardstown on Saturday. And, stepping back up to seven furlongs, the Harrington filly has obvious claims today.