Heffernan predicts plenty of improvement to come from Cape Blanco
In a strongly-run race, Emmet McNamara produced favourite Baglioni with a smooth challenge to lead with more than a furlong and a half to race and Ger Lyons’ charge looked set to follow-up his maiden win at Dundalk.
But Cape Blanco, a son of Galileo, soon challenged, responding to strong driving by Seamus Heffernan. The Ballydoyle colt hit the front inside the final furlong but had to battle to hold the renewed effort of Baglioni.
The runner-up emerged from the race with credit, as he was conceding 6lb. to the winner while Cape Blanco looks sure to progress from this debut run and should appreciate a step-up in trip.”
Winning rider Heffernan declared: “I’d say he’s good. He was very green and off the bridle early. But he kept finding for me and there’s a lot of improvement in him.”
The other two-year-old event, the opening median auction maiden for fillies, produced a shock and a first winner of the season fort trainer Ken Condon when 25/1 shot Lake Cresent triumphed in the hands of Colm O’Donoghue, getting the better of Cornakill and Bada Bling.
Condon, whose twenty-strong string comprises chiefly two-year-olds, said: “He was poorly drawn, but learned a lot from his first run here.
“He loved today’s ground and might be capable of holding his own in better company. He’s very laid-back and honest.”
O’Donoghue was subsequently fined €100 and cautioned by the Stewards when found to be in breach of Rule 211(a), for crossing from his starting position before the marker poles.
The nine-furlong Macetown Maiden was run in a thunder-storm, with torrential rain lashing across the Co. Meath venue. Due to the threat of lightning, starting stalls were not used, the race being started, at the second attempt, by flag.
Victory went to 5/2 favourite Shiyrman, a Dalakhani colt trained by Michael Halford for the Aga Khan. He stayed on stoutly to beat Cul A Dun by a length and a half.
Halford commented: “Fran said he did it well, that he travelled and picked up. He’s a lovely laid-back colt, with a good attitude, and should improve. We’ll see what mark the handicapper gives him before making nay plans.”
Maurice Phelan savoured a rare flat success when Danny Mullins produced Ain Jalout with a well-timed challenge to wear down gallant top-weight Kardyls Hope inside the final furlong of the seven-furlong Fairyhouse Summer Series Handicap before holding the late flourish of Our Nana Rose by a half-length.
“This horse has a bit of form, but things didn’t go his way the last day at Killarney,” commented Phelan. “I know the owner a long time and we’ve been lucky. I won seven races with Aldhahar Beebers for him.”
The father and son combination of trainer Tom and jockey Rory Cleary struck in the Bobbyjo Bistro Handicap when 20/1 Miss Al Gunn was produced with a storming late challenge to foil the flattering Drombeg Dawn by a length.
The winning trainer explained: “The heavy shower probably helped because it got into the ground. He seemed to get shuffled back a bit, to fifth or sixth, before coming again. He won well. His sire (All Guns) stands in Co. Roscommon and this horse with bought with only one thing in mind – going to Galway!”
The layers got another ‘result’ in the Ashbourne Apprentice Handicap when, having held an apparently unassailable lead, the James Fahy-ridden Rouvres Girl was nailed close home by La Petite Bleue, a second winner of the season for Christy Geoghegan.
La Petite Bleue is trained by Joanna Morgan, who said: “She’s a very well-bred filly, from a late-maturing German family. I thought she’d win last year, but the ground went against her in the autumn. I thought she wanted fast ground and I was worried when the rain arrived tonight. She’s in again at Ballinrobe on Monday and might go there.”
The finale, the Ballyhack Handicap, provided trainer Sean Treacy with a welcome change of luck as Taralga, an Aga Khan-bred filly bought for €13,000, bolted up by four and a half lengths from Premier Rouge.
Treacy commented: “The lads (the Best Of The Rest Syndicate from Malahide) have been lucky with Coolgreaney and Shersha and now this filly. She’s not very big, but likes ease in the ground. I was delighted to see the rain. She’ll jump a hurdle too.”
