Cork report: Confidence boost for Back To Brussels

The odds-on favourite raced away from long-time leader Independent Missy in the final furlong

SIBLING RIVALRY: Huddle Up defies Prairie Dancer as Nathan Crosse (yellow silks) gets the better of his brother Shane in the Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden at Cork. Picture: Healy Racing

On ratings and under the conditions of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Race in Cork, Back To Brussels looked a penalty kick, and so it proved for Fozzy Stack’s filly.

For much of the race Chris Hayes was motionless aboard the odds-on favourite and when he asked her to quicken inside the final furlong, she raced away from long-time leader Independent Missy.

“That was nice,” said Hayes. “It was a brilliant bit of placing by Fozzy to have that type of rating and to be getting weight from some of the rivals. It was like a piece of work for her.

“She’s had nothing but stakes company so it was nice to drop her down in grade. It’ll do her confidence the world of good. She handled the ground quite well and hopefully we can get her to win a listed race before the end of the year.

“She had always shown a bit, that was why we were pitching her in at a higher level last year. But you see the size of her, she just started growing and getting little niggly kind of muscle pains and whatever last year. It took Fozzy all winter to get her right, but thankfully she’s right now.

“The key is just to get her settled. She could drop back to five furlongs in that sort of ground, so we’ll see what’s there for her.” 

Erzindjan stepped up nicely on his debut sixth to win the opening race on the card, the Coolmore Stud Gleneagles Irish EBF Maiden.

Just shy of 10 lengths behind subsequent Group 2 winner MacSwiney on debut, the half-brother to recent Dundalk maiden winner Eshtiya appreciated the testing ground and simply galloped clear late under Oisín Orr to give Dermot Weld his seventh two-year-old winner of the season.

Chagall, wearing blinkers for the first time, followed up last year’s win in the corkracecourse.ie Handicap.

Ridden by Mark Enright for Eddie Lynam, he ploughed a lone furrow down the far side of the track and established a clear lead from an early stage.

The field closed quite quickly in the closing stages but Lynam’s horses have hit form and he held on well to give the trainer a third winner of the month, and fifth since the restart.

Huddle Up showed a fine attitude to take the Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden.

Willie McCreery’s runner had shown promise on debut and this was a nice step forward.

He looked in trouble when favourite Prairie Dancer edged ahead with a furlong to go but, in the battle of the Crosse brothers, it was Nathan who gained the bragging rights over Shane as he drove his mount back to the front for a narrow victory, the two considerably clear of the remainder.

“It’s onwards and upwards, and we’ll try find a few little races for him,” said McCreery. 

“He’s a fun horse to have and he’s after paying for himself there in one fell swoop. He did that well. I castrated him early just because he was just thinking about things, but he had a lovely attitude there. He was very game to the line, and I thought Nathan was very strong on him.” 

Shane Crosse had his moment later in the day when getting up in the final strides to take the Thank You To All The Frontline Workers Handicap aboard the Joseph O’Brien-trained Baron Samedi. Mighty Mirage looked to have made the decisive move when hitting the front over a furlong out, but Crosse switched Baron Samedi off the rails and got him rolling and he picked up to win by the narrowest of margins.

The winning ride aboard Principalship in the Mallow Handicap provided further evidence of the burgeoning talent of young rider Dylan Browne McMonagle.

He set the pace aboard the 20-1 chance, left it as late as possible before asking for extra effort, and put his whip down after one reminder.

His mount responded generously to the ride to readily hold the effort of Tide Of Time.

Winning trainer Austin Leahy was suitably impressed.

“I’d say the jockey got the fractions right and held on to him as long as he could. He’s a bright lad. It was his first ride for me. It’s great to get the win in these hard times.” 

Nature had its way in the end and the track became flooded when the Blackwater burst its bank and left parts of the track unraceable, resulting in the intended final race not being run.