Matrice gives Joseph O'Brien his 1,000th worldwide flat winner
NOT FOR PASSING: Matrice and Declan McDonogh en route to victory in the finale at Dundalk on Wednesday. Picture: Healy Racing
Globe-trotting Joseph O’Brien reached another notable career milestone when Matrice gave him his 1,000th worldwide flat winner in Dundalk.
Placed in four of her seven previous starts, most recently last Friday, Matrice got off the mark under Declan McDonogh in the concluding fillies’ maiden.
Having tracked the pace, the 5-6 favourite was sent for home early in the straight and stayed on to beat Dior Noir by a length and a quarter.
“She’s by Frankel, so it’s important to get a winning bracket for her,” said McDonogh. “She seems the love the polytrack and the quick turnaround from Friday did her no harm. I thought she lost her concentration on Friday and suggested to Joseph to put the cheekpieces back on. She ran straight and true.”
Clearly appreciating the polytrack, the Jessica Harrington-trained Seoul Force sparked a double for Shane Foley.
The Wootton Bassett colt, far from disgraced in three Curragh maidens, made all and dug deep to hold off market-leaders Watch Tower and What About Us by a neck and a half-length.
“We didn’t think we’d be wating this long for him to win his maiden,” said Foley. “He’s been running in decent maidens, but had a few little issues along the way.
“It wasn’t the plan to make the running, but nobody wanted to go. We got an easy lead and did our own thing. He could develop into a nice little horse next year.”
Foley struck again when Danny Murphy’s Ballintogher opened his account, at the sixth attempt, in the Now Racing Every Wednesday At Dundalk Maiden, responding to his rider’s driving to foil well-backed favourite Heven’s Wish (7-2-11-8) by a half-length.
“He’s a nice horse — I like him,” stated the winning trainer. “He works better than this and probably isn’t in love with the surface. We’ll put him away for the spring, with some ease in the ground. He’ll be a nice six or seven-furlong horse. And, don’t forget, we had the right man on board — Shane is riding like a demon.”
Making his handicap debut, the Danny McLoughlin-trained Battleforsupremacy, backed into 5-1 from double those odds, landed the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Nursery under Scott McCullagh, beating Monvoe by a neck.
“The key is getting him settled,” McLoughlin said. “And the better surface really helped him. He’s learning all the time and if he relaxes a bit more, he should improve with racing.”
Champion apprentice Wayne Hassett, successful recently on Unterberg, struck again for Laura Hourigan when Notforalongtime (33-1) proved a shock winner of the Christmas Party Nights At Dundalk Stadium Handicap, pipping favourite Moyassr by a short-head.
Another young member of Joseph O’Brien’s team, apprentice Julian Pietropaolo, was on the mark when Kevin Smith’s Marians Gal, a 19-race maiden, belatedly opened account in the first division of the ten-furlong 0-60 handicap.
The second division went to the Robert Whearty-ridden Nibras Rainbow, a welcome winner for Gavin Cromwell.
And Fleetfootsoldier, claimed by his owner James McAuley for just €5,000 three weeks ago, delivered for Denis Hogan and Joey Sheridan in the seven-furlong 0-60 handicap.
