Great Wide Open makes most of rails draw

Declan McDonogh recorded his second treble in two weeks when scoring on Great Wide Open and Zorba The Greek for Charles O’Brien and Paul Nolan’s Usain in Gowran Park last night.

McDonogh bagged a trio at Dundalk on May 13, when Charles O’Brien also provided two of his winners. O’Brien acknowledged: “Being drawn on the fence and getting out quickly is worth quite a lot around here,” after Great Wide Open made most of the running and fought tenaciously to keep favourite Exprese Brasileiro at bay by a head in the Gowran Park Handicap.

And he added: “I’ve been trying to get him to stay a mile, but he just doesn’t stay. He might just be a specialist seven-furlong horse and there should be plenty of races for him over that trip.”