Music Pearl hits right note with first time blinkers

IN-FORM Ger Lyons dominated last night’s flat action in Wexford, completing a superb treble with Music Pearl, Solent Ridge and Sixty Eight Guns, the first and last leg providing former champion Johnny Murtagh with a double.

Blinkered for the first time, Music Pearl overcame a tardy start before wearing down odds-on favourite Hadrian’s Waltz inside the final furlong to land the opening fillies maiden, prompting Shane Lyons, assistant to his trainer brother, to comment: “She’s a genuine little filly and, like most of ours, improved from her first run, at Naas. The blinkers helped her.”

After the Danny Benson-ridden Solent Ridge came through late to thwart Snap Alam in the Campile Apprentice Handicap and provide the Lyons team with its second success of the evening, Lyons explained: “I was a bit worried about the trip and this horse doesn’t like getting a slap. Danny gave him a smashing, intelligent ride and didn’t panic. He’s been working well and did it on the track tonight.”