Elliott’s treble time

Elliott’s treble time

1 October 2014

THE fine spell of weather and lack of rain in recent weeks meant fields were on the small side at Downpatrick on Friday.

But that didn’t stop Meath trainer Gordon Elliott getting back on the winning trail with a treble on the card.

Elliott kicked off the meeting when 6/5 favourite Knight’s Parade ran out an easy winner of the Attheraces Maiden Hurdle to give Barry Geraghty the first leg of a double in the process.

Pat Fahy’s Ram Them All took second place for the third run in a row some eight lengths behind the winner with a big gap back to Andrew Thornton on The Black Devil.

Winner number two for Elliott came in the handicap hurdle when Sean Gallagher’s High Net Worth proved superior to favourite The Two Jays by just over a length, giving jockey Kevin Sexton his first winner for Elliott.

The win was Elliott’s fiftieth winner of the season between the UK and Ireland.

Elliott’s third success of the day came in the second of the beginners’ chases when odds-on favourite Definite Ruby (8/11) collared long time leader Draycott Place and Andrew Lynch after jumping the final fence before racing clear for a four and a half lengths.

The win brought up a double for Barry Geraghty and got Elliott back among the winners with a bang with five winners in two days having not recorded a winner in the previous ten days racing.

“Barry said the track didn’t suit her but she wasn’t going to be beaten,” reported Elliott in the winner’s enclosure.

Father-and-son Pat and Jack Doyle combined to win the Horse First Supplements maiden hurdle with 16/1 shot High Counsel, who showed plenty of guts to come from off the pace with a well timed run and collar 11/8 favourite Better Back Bob by a head with the gambled-on Fellow Indian back in third for Tom Foley.

The winner was Doyle’s 200th track success to date and before heading off to America he hopes to ride in England over the winter.

Crossgar trainer Colin McBratney appears to have found the key to Obispo who put in a fine round of jumping under Adrian Heskin on the way to a 10 lengths success in the first of the beginners’ chases.

The 9/1 chance sat just behind the pacesetters before going to the head of affairs two out and then racing clear up the hill.

“We put a hood on him at Down Royal and again today and it seems to have made a difference. He’ll probably come back here for a handicap next,” said McBratney in the winner’s enclosure.

A winner at the track in August last year, Lily of Killarney (8/1) showed it pays to follow previous track winners when getting the better of eleven rivals in the handicap chase run in honour of Monaghan trainer Oliver Brady who passed away recently and who was a great supporter of Downpatrick.

Successful jockey Mark Walsh gave his mount a great ride, having looked beaten jumping the second last.

However, Lily of Killarney proved to be pretty game and responded decisively after Walsh had given her a crack of the whip to surge up the hill for a three and a half lengths victory from Jim Dreaper’s 9/2 chance Cerca Trova.

The winner is owned by the Irish Tenors syndicate which includes Dr. Ronan Tynan and Anthony Kearns.

Anthony McCann who has taken over the reins following Brady’s passing, saddled former Ulster Grand National winner Duroob on what was the horse’s 120th career start but the 12-year-old failed to sparkle on this occasion and finished down the field.

The whispers in the ring had the bumper as a two horse race and so it proved with Peter Fahey’s odds-on favourite Rathmuck Native benefiting from the 7lb claim of David Mullins when proving two and a half lengths superior to Nina Carberry on Gordon Elliott’s Miss North Light, one to watch out for in the near future.

• Next meeting: October 17.