Nidge is forced to pull out all the stops to justify odds of 1-5

There were very few upsets in Saturday’s second round of the Kerry Agribusiness Irish St Leger at Limerick but Droopy Nidge, a runaway winner in a record time in the opening round, had a very different experience in trying to justify odds of 1-5 in heat five as he was forced to pull out all the stops to see off the determined Burgess Oscar.

The latter was first to show but held just a narrow advantage over the favourite as they raced around the opening bends and into the backstraight. There was still little to separate them as they raced the final bends and turned to face the judge.

Despite swinging wide off the last bend, the Robert Gleeson-trained Droopys Nidge had plenty of momentum and he forged ahead in the dying strides to see off the challenge of Burgess Oscar by half a length, in 29.62.