Chapter Seven ends three-year losing run on rain-sodden ground

Colin Keane, now a clear second behind Pat Smullen in the Jockeys Championship race, provided his boss Ger Lyons with a first and last race double on Mint Chai and Chapter Seven in Bellewstown last night.

And the Lyons team was probably alone in welcoming the torrential showers which hit Bellewstown during the evening, turning ground conditions to “soft to heavy”, as Shane explained after Chapter Seven proved a facile winner of the finale, the Downolad The Racing Post App Race. “When the showers came, it was music to our ears because the heavier he ground the better for this horse. He’s a real character at home. But I’m chuffed he’s won so well.”

Chapter Seven slammed front-running Altrusitic by four and a half lengths as favourite Manalapan, off the track for thirteen months, dropped away tamely to finish last of the four runners.