Silent Wonder delivers for Nolans at local Castleisland meeting
Castleisland meeting
SILENT Wonder (NewInn Wonder/ Silent belle) was the star of the show at Castleisland last weekend as she blitzed her rivals to score in the All Age Bitch Stake for local owners Tom and Jack Nolan.
The 1/2 long odds favourite was foot perfect from the opening round when she scored a long lead victory over Vito Nugget. She once again lit up the stretch in her quarter-final final which was a bye course following the withdrawal of Cobra Angel. However, the winner had still not hit top gear and it was in her penultimate buckle that she posted her fastest time of the meeting when scoring a long lead victory over Chetwynd Diane. The Eamon Dowling owned Killeacle Jackie faced the unenviable task of facing the Tom and Jack Nolan owned runner in the final course however while she surrendered ground to her more illustrious opponent early in the buckle she held the deficit to four lengths by the opening turn. The Mossie O’Connor trained Silent Wonder looks unbeatable on her current form and an interesting statistic on her performances over the weekend was that she set the three fastest clocks of the meeting.
The Derby ticket was won in fine style by Cryuff (Blades Of Hope/Might Be Magic) from the Ballyheigue kennels of Tom and Anne O’Connor. Having beaten the long odds favorite Rocking Magic at the quarter final stage, Cryuff joined Bedford Mac at the head of the betting at even money. The pair would go on to meet in the final, with the latter scoring by 1 ½ lengths over Hard And Fast and Cyruff recording a 2 ½ length win over Dervock Slippy in the penultimate round of the Stake. Bedford Mac went to slips the 1/2 favourite to prevail in the deciding buckle, however it was Cyruff who showed in front and led following the opening exchanges. The winner extended his advantage on the rising ground and stayed on gamely to record a 1 ½ length victory. Jointly owned by Tom O’Connor and Richard Mee, the April whelp enters the Derby market at 20/1.
Cha Cha Matilda (NewInn Wonder/ Moat Matilda) was well supported in the long odds book for the Oaks Trial Stake and the Jerry Holian trained runner went off the clear 5/2 favourite. She showed improvement with every run and a 1 length success over the impressive Cobra Trilogy at the semi-final stage saw the McDaid-McManus-Foley Syndicate owned runner book the white collar for the deciding course. Kilty Candy came through from the top half of the draw. The latter was very much the outsider for the final and while she battled gamely to stay in contention early in the course, she was completely outpaced from halfway and Cha Cha Matilda ran out a very convincing five-length winner.
Portabanus moved a step closer to qualification for this season’s Champion Stakes when upsetting the odds to land the Island Cup which was the feature event of the meeting. Owned by the Enright/Lenihan Syndicate from Rathkeale, the winner was a big outsider for the final against Part Exchange. The latter was swiftly away from slips in the deciding buckle and quickly began to steal a lead on his rival. However, he appeared to surrender his advantage when lining up a weaving hare and Portabanus finished powerfully to score by a length.
Barrack Treasure (Coolavanny Bingo/Barrack Millie) proved best in the Surplus Bitch Puppy for Tournafulla owner Niall Curtain. The winner was always in control in the final against Big Bessie and scored by two lengths.
Donal And Kathlen (NewInn Wonder/ Away She Goes) finished with a flourish to land the One Course Duffer Stake at the expense of You Better Run. The Donal O’Connell owned runner scored by half a length following a keenly fought contest.
Sandinmysandals (Tullamoy Master/ Come On Vivienne) owned by Liam Nolan and Michelle Dore won the Three Course Duffer with an impressive five-length win over Deer Song.
The Hare Minders Stake was won by Spruce Ger (Adios Alonso/ Stop That Ger) who finished well to beat Russmur Alonso by one and a half lengths. The winner is jointly owned by Ruairi Burke and Tom Prendeville.