Scott looks potentially smart recruit
An easy-to-back 9/2 shot, Sir Walter Scott showed clear signs of inexperience and was being cajoled along by Colm O’Donoghue soon after halfway. But the Ballydoyle colt displayed a commendable attitude in the closing stages, to prevail by a couple of necks.
“He was a bit green early on and, sitting second, he wasn’t learning a lot,” commented O’Donoghue. “But, from three furlongs out, he was gaining momentum and finished well. He should come on a good bit for the run and is a colt I like.”
Michael Halford and Shane Foley took the honours on the day, completing a double with Coach Bombay and Saint By Day in the divisions of the www.sardaireland.com Handicap.
Gaining compensation for an unlucky run on Monday, Coach Bombay slammed his rivals in the first division, scoring by seven and a half lengths. Halford declared: “He has been unlucky the last twice and was entitled to win. There was probably a lack of opposition in that division. But he loves the surface and we’ll tip away with him here.”
Saint By Day came from the back of the field to complete the Halford/Foley double, his trainer explaining: “He has to be ridden that way, because he panics when he’s among horses, which means he’s always vulnerable around here. But Shane gave him a lovely ride.”
Out of luck in the two-year-old conditions event, Ger Lyons had earlier landed the six-furlong juvenile maiden with 16/1 shot Very Elusive and Emmet McNamara, which foiled the frustrating favourite Leitir Mor and Mark Johnston’s Polish Crown.
Jim Bolger and Kevin Manning won the mile maiden with 5/2 favourite Rigoletta. Bolger’s apprentice Ronan Whelan registered his twentieth success of the season on board Reggie Roberts’ fast ground specialist Timelsss Call, which made all in the five-furlong handicap.
Toufan Express will bid for a quick double in Roscommon today following his win under Ian Brennan in the Friday Horse Racing Returns 28th September Handicap while, under an enterprising ride by Andrew Thornton, the Vincent Ward-trained Regal Tramp landed a tidy gamble (14/1 to 9/2) in the concluding two-mile handicap.
