O’Keeffe ‘marvels’ in Kilbeggan

Aidan O’Brien dominated at Navan on Saturday with five winners on the card. Ryan Moore rode three of them, Seamie Heffernan got one and Wayne Lordan played his part with success on 5/1 chance New York City, which landed the Listed Committed Stakes with a ready success over the Ger Lyons-trained 11/8 favourite Straight Answer. The Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot is a target for the three-year-old. Moore partnered Aesop’s Fables to win the opening maiden, he took the Listed Salsabil Stakes on Concert Hall and landed the Listed Vintage Crop Stakes as Kyprios beat the Dermot Weld-trained Search For A Song by two and three-parts of a length to give owners Moyglare Stud a 1-2 in the race. Seamie Heffernan led home a Ballydoyle 1-2-3 in the concluding maiden with 12/1 chance Arbutus beating 11/8 favourite Newfoundland and 7/1 shot Realism to the line.

It was also a most memorable day for Amy Jo Hayes who partnered the first winner of her career when getting the Men Of Forty Eight Syndicate-owned Sunset Nova home by one and a half lengths in the opening division of the apprentice handicap at Navan on Saturday. Trained by Andy Slattery, the 17/2 chance beat the Edward Lynamtrained 5/2 favourite Rough Diamond in good style in the hands of the 21-year-old from Fethard. She said, “It means the world to me. I’ve been beaten on the line before but today was my day! I wasn’t expecting that at all, he winged it home and came up in between them. I looked around me and there was nobody beside me!”

Fozzy Stack recorded an opening race double at Limerick on Saturday afternoon and he shared his success with local rider Mark Enright. The pair captured the seven-furlong maiden with Baroque Artist, in the trainer’s own colours, which got the better of the Ken Condon-trained Marhaba Ashmayme by half a length and followed up with a narrow success for Fizzical in the eight-furlong fillies’ maiden. At odds of 16/1, she beat the Joseph O’Brien-trained Sareeha by a head for owner/ breeder Michael Begley. Ben Coen went one better with three winners of his own. He won the second division of the eight-furlong handicap on the Gavin Cromwell-trained 7/1 chance Dha Leath and later landed both 11-furlong handicaps, winning on the Sheila Lavery-trained 13/2 shot Global Energy and Tony Martin’s Unanswered, at the same price, respectively. Not only did the winners share an identical starting price, they are also trained in County Meath, they won by a length and a half and they each beat Tipperary-trained opposition into second place. Cahir’s Nathan Crosse won the last of day’s eight-furlong handicap on the Richard O’Brien-trained Breaking Story. Owned by Ray Kazmierczak, the six-year-old held off the late run of the Joseph O’Brien’s Toshizou by three-parts of a length and the 5/2 chance was the only winning favourite on the eight-race card. It was a first treble for the Classic winning jockey.

22/1 SHOT BROUGH HOME BY O’KEEFFE

Esthers Marvel won the mares’ beginners’ chase for Darragh O’Keeffe and County Waterford trainer Ken Budds at Kilbeggan on Friday evening. The 22/1 chance, owned and bred by Kevin Galvin, got the better of Henry de Bromhead’s 4/6 favourite Brave Way by a length and a quarter, a taking performance on her first start since November. There was a 50/1 upset in the opening maiden hurdle at the County Westmeath venue where the John Ryan-trained Hope Des Blins readily got the better of long odds-on favourite Evergreen And Red. With Danny Mullins in the saddle, the outsider saw off the Noel Meade-trained 1/4 favourite by two and three-parts of a length in the colours of owner Tom Meagher, a cousin of the winning trainer.

Rachael Blackmore and Henry de Bromhead shared a double and supplied the only winning favourite of the meeting as the Patrick Hale-owned Amirite scored a runaway success in the two-mile three-furlong maiden hurdle. The 5/6 chance won by all of 30 lengths from Gordon Elliott’s 9/4 shot The Waltzer. Baptism Of Fire completed the double with a two-length success over the Willie Mullins-trained Bacardys in the concluding beginners’ chase. Challenging over the final fence, the seven-year-old was soon in front and scored a ready success at odds of 6/1. Conor McNamara teamed up with Gavin Cromwell to win the handicap chase with 5/1 chance Sweet Will. In the colours of the Out Of Bounds Syndicate, the five-year-old recovered from a bad mistake at halfway to beat Gordon Elliott’s Quantum Realm by three and a quarter lengths.

Edward O’Grady and Phillip Enright combined to win the two-mile three-furlong handicap hurdle at Kilbeggan on Thursday with the five-year-old Huntingtown. Owned by Dermot O’Rourke, the 10/1 chance ran out a comfortable three-length winner from the Eoin McCarthy-trained Dylan Lombardy, the 7/2 favourite. Athea-based Eoin McCarthy was on the mark where Name Me Famous won the first of the handicap hurdles on the card. Richie Deegan was in the saddle as the Denis Enright-owned sixyear-old scored by four and a half lengths from the Lorna Fowler-trained Y Fyn Duw A Fydd.

Daniel King notched up the 10th winner of his career when taking the opening division of the nine-furlong handicap on the Justin Carthy-owned Darkened at Tipperary last Thursday. A well-supported 5/1 chance, the Denis Hogan-trained sixyear-old led a furlong pole and held off the Tony Martin-trained Draco Pulchrac by half a length. The second leg of the same race went the way of the Jonathan Sweeney-trained Matilda With Me, which led on the line under Colin Keane to score. The 3/1 favourite got the better of Aidan Howard’s Carirose by a head, a third success for the Thomas Murphy-owned five-year-old.

UPCOMING FIXTURES

Punchestown – Thursday, April 28 (first race 3.40pm); Punchestown – Friday, April 29 (first race 3.40pm); Punchestown – Saturday, April 30 (first race 2.35pm); Sligo – Sunday, May 1 (first race 2.15pm).