McCabe bags first winner since returning home
But McCabe’s win, making all the running on the once-raced Sadler’s Wells colt, came at a cost for most punters as he fought off the challenge of his odds-on stable-companion Red Rock Canyon, a red-hot 8/11 shot.
McCabe, a key figure on the gallops at Ballydoyle, explained: “He’s tough and battled well. It’s nice to ride a winner for the boss.”
Having made the running, Song Of Hiawatha looked in trouble as Red Rock Canyon (Colm O’Donoghue) and Thiella challenged from the three-furlong pole. But he stayed on stoutly to triumph by a length and three-quarters.
Earlier, Pat Smullen continued his rich vein of form and joined Seamus Heffernan on the 26-winner mark at the top of the Jockeys Championship table when recording a double on Celtic Woman and Tango Foxtro.
Celtic Woman, trained on the Curragh by Liam Roche, emerged victorious after a protracted battle with front-running Bonington to land the first division of the Anniversary Handicap by a half-length.
Smullen completed his double when the Willie Mullins-trained Tango Foxtrot recorded his first win since last September in the Ladbrokes.com Handicap. Coping well with the softening ground (officially ‘yielding’), he outpointed apprentice-ridden Mamlook.
Trainer Ken Condon nominated the listed Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot as the likely target for May Meeting after the Diktat filly made a successful debut in the Lynn Lodge 2-Y-0 Auction Maiden.
Ridden by Colm O’Donoghue, May Meeting quickened well to take command and kept going well to keep Precipice at bay. Condon said: “She had been working well. I hope she’ll improve and a trip to Ascot is on the cards now.”
The J P McManus-owned Baggio recorded his sixth career success when making a winning start to his 2007 campaign in the Sean Shields Bookmakers Handicap.
Winning trainer Charles O’Brien said: “He spent time down with Enda Bolger and seems more relaxed since he came back. They went very fast, which played into his hands. I suppose he’ll go back to the Curragh for the premier handicap on Derby weekend.”
Trainer Pat Morris saddled first and second in the Derrinstown Stud Apprentice Handicap when 20/1 shot Royal Becky beat Nell’s Girl, a timely boost for Morris whose horse-box was stolen from his yard on Saturday night.
Ger Lyons, on the mark with Howya Now Kid at Epsom on Friday, clicked again when Willie Supple’s strength got Perpetual Motion home a short-head winner of the Irish Stallion Farms Maiden after a tremendous tussle with Sweet Peak.
Lyons said: “He really wants fast ground and battled well today. He should keep improving.”
