Foniska dominates from the front for Jessica Harrington at Cork
CRUISE CONTROL: Foniska and Shane Foley win the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Navigation Stakes at Cork. Picture: Healy Racing
The Jessica Harrington-trained Foniska proved a shock, all-the-way winner of the listed Irish Stallion Farms EBF Navigation Stakes in Cork.
In the colours of Flaxman Stables Ireland Ltd, the Galileo filly, sent off at 12-1, dictated the pace under Shane Foley, skipped clear early in the straight and won, eased down, by three lengths from Snapraeterea with Clever And Cool third and Lord Massusus fourth.
The winner was having her first run since Royal Ascot in June, as Foley explained: “She had a good run, in deep ground, in the Salsabil but didn’t handle fast ground in Royal Ascot and was sore afterwards. These are her conditions and she likes to lead. We went a nice, even pace. I got a good breather into her turning for home and I liked the way she kept picking up in the straight. The track plays to front-runners. It was a good performance. And she’ll be a lovely filly next year, if she stays in training.”
An eye-catching fourth on debut at Leopardstown, the Dermot Weld-trained Ezeliya justified 11-10 favouritism in the two-year-old fillies' maiden, knuckling down well for Chris Hayes to see off promising debutante Wendla by a length.
“She fluffed her lines out of the gates and I found myself three wide, but in a nice rhythm,” said Hayes. “I liked the way she hit the line. She handled that ground quite well and is a filly with a future, a lovely prospect for next year.
It was a day to remember for Danny Murphy, who has trained more than 1,000 winners (mostly in Macau and Singapore) and struck with his first runner since receiving his new Irish licence last week, when Ocean Baroque (Conor Stone-Walsh) landed the €50,000 Irish EBF Auction series Nursery at the expense of Bid For Chester and Tai Tam Bay.
Murphy, involved in Kieran Cotter’s operation in recent seasons and now based at Ballysax on the Curragh, where has 12 horses in training and seven yearlings being readied for 2024, is beginning his second stint training in Ireland.
“My dad (John) trained for 40 years on the Curragh and, after a 14-year riding career, I held a licence for five years, from 1989,” explained Murphy. “But I got an offer to train in Macau and headed to Asia — I trained in Singapore too. I came home for my son’s wedding five years ago and decided to move home.”
A contender for the apprentice championship, Stone-Walsh brought his seasonal tally to 21, three behind Jamie Powell, thanks to a double, completed when 4-1 favourite Run Forrest Run, trained locally by Micky Fenton and unlucky in running behind Dragon Of Malta in Listowel last week, bolted up in the six-furlong Mallow Handicap.
Having her third start, Bon Bon, ridden for his boss Joseph O’Brien by Wayne Hassett, readily brushed aside uneasy favourite Sweetest in the five-furlong Irish Stallion Farms EBF 2-Y-0 Maiden, prompting the trainer’s representative Sean Corby to comment: “She’s a fast filly and the soft ground helped her. She jumped and travelled and seemed to be comfortable the whole way.”
Deputising for the suspended Billy Lee and having his first ride for Willie McCreery, Dylan Browne McMonagle registered his 51st success of the domestic campaign when bringing Helpmeout with a well-timed late surge to beat Catena Zaopata, Trachonitis, and Something Nice in the Follow Us On Social Media Handicap.
Leigh Roche worked wonders from stall 19 to land the concluding Follow Us On Twitter Handicap on Denis Cullen’s Zephron, who had come close to giving Oisin Murphy a first winner on Kerry soil at Listowel last week.
