Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
IT’S PADDY’S DAY
..despite third placed Ross being disqualified
LA Petite Coco gave trainer Paddy Twomey his first Group 1 success when landing the Alwasmiyah Pretty Polly Stakes at the Curragh.
But Twomey left the Curragh with mixed feelings after his third placed Rosscarbery was disqualified following a Stewards Enquiry into weighing-in procedures.
IHRB representatives reported that the filly’s rider Wayne Lordan weighed out at 138.1lb. and weighed in at 133.5lb and, by rule, Rosscarbery had to be disqualified. The matter will be investigated further by the IHRB.
On a positive note, Twomey had savoured La Petite Coco’s gutsy performance, under a determined ride from Billy Lee, admitting: “I couldn’t see her being beaten today, based on the level she reached last year, beating Love and Thundering Nights and the way she progressed over the winter.
“I think she’s top-class and we had always planned to start here.
“We might look at the Yorkshire Oaks next and have the Fillies & Mares in Ascot, the Arc and Breeders Cup in mind for her.”
Lee, leading Saturday’s Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby hero Colin Keane in the title-race, went on to complete a Sunday double on Willie Mccreery’s newcomer Self Belief in the one-mile maiden.
Earlier, the Aidan O’brientrained Statuette justified 4/6 favouritism in the Group 2 Airlie Stud 2-Y-0 (Fillies) Stakes, knuckling down well to get the better of Badb by three-quarters of a length.
“We’re very happy with her she’s only three-quarters ready, with an eye on the later part of the season,” explained O’brien, who described the winner as a “massive, big, powerful filly” and mentioned the Moyglare
and Cheveley Park as possible targets in the autumn.
O’brien and Moore completed a double when 10/11 favourite Cougar made all in the finale, leaving O’brien as the leading trainer over the three-day meeting while Keane as leading rider.
A more notable double was achieved by apprentice Jamie Powell, who took both sprint handicaps, scoring on Johnny Feane’s Ano Syra in the Paddy Power Rockingham Handicap and the Kevin Coleman-trained Coumshingaun, from 3lb. out of the handicap, in the Sherry Fitzgerald Country Homes Handicap.
Ano Syra’s win was achieved off a mark 18lb. higher than when registering her first handicap win, in Naas back in April. Feane is targeting some black type with the filly.