Lean and Keen adds to Pat Smullen run

Hero of Saturday’s Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh, highlight of a weekend which yielded four wins, seven-times champion Pat Smullen partnered Lean And Keen to victory in the featured www.thetote.com Handicap in heavy ground in Ballinrobe last night.

The testing conditions proved no barrier to the strapping five-year-old, who stayed on strongly in the closing stages to slam front-runner Hurricane Twister by no less than 15 lengths.

Lean And Keen is trained by Sean Byrne, said: “He’s a big strong horse and he’s getting better all the time. He loves soft ground, so we weren’t worried when all the rain came over the weekend.