Right result for Walsh fans
With testing ground and a bomb scare, day one of the Tralee Festival got off to a lively start and it was Forthright who claimed the feature Brandon Hotel Handicap Hurdle.
All six runners were in close contention with five furlongs to go but as they just strode inside the final half-mile, Forthright, nudged along by Ruby Walsh, moved up into third.
Cloone Rocket, the 3-1 favourite, began to lose contention and dropped back through the field as at the last Forthright and Bonne Noel’s had little to separate them.
But Walsh’s mount jumped more smoothly and landed with the momentum to propel him into a lead which he held easily all the way to the line, holding Bonne Noel’s by a length and a quarter.
Winning trainer Mark Loughnane said of the 100-30 chance: “He only just does enough in front, but he is a very good horse and wants better ground really.
“We went to Galway with him, but this race was the plan all along so he’ll have a break now.”
Only four horses went to post for the Club Fabric Handicap, with conditions proving to the liking of Freedom At Last.
Princely Hero, the 9-10 favourite, set the pace, with Pat Smullen dictating matters until they came off the final turn where Freedom At Last and John Gerrard crept up the outside to challenge.
The Frank Ennis-trained 8-1 chance, with Gerrard putting up a couple of pounds overweight, strode away to take the race by one and three-quarter lengths from the market leader.
Gerrard, who was riding his first winner, said: “She’s travelled well for the whole race and then picked up in the straight.
“She stayed on very well and we fancied her to run well enough with her light weight.
“After the bomb scare I thought it (racing) would be off, but thankfully it wasn’t,” he told At The Races.
“I’ll just try and get as many rides as I can this season and then try and improve over the winter.”
The Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Fillies Maiden went the way of the John Murphy-trained Dancesowell (8-1), ridden by smart apprentice Ben Curtis.
A daughter of Sadler’s Wells, Dancesowell held off the competition and strode home well clear of Sagarich to score three and a half lengths, completing a double for her trainer, who had been on the board with Juniper Berry in the opener.
Murphy said: “She’s a very big filly and took her time to come to hand. We’ll just have to wait and see what we do with her next.”
