Lady Mairen seals treble for Lee at Sligo
Lady Mairen and Billy Lee win for trainer Paddy Twomey. Pic: Healy Racing
Lady Mairen got off the mark and delivered the final leg of a double for Paddy Twomey and a superb treble for Billy Lee when landing the €25,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Handicap in Sligo.
Always close to the pace, Lee committed Lady Mairen, a €200,000 Arqana purchase, on the approach to the straight. And the Dubawi filly, in the colours of Robert Moran, stayed on up the hill to hold Chica Guerrera by a length and a half.
Twomey commented, “I knew she had come forward and I think she’s a black-type filly, at anywhere from a mile and a quarter to a mile and six.” Earlier, County Carlow sparked the Twomey/Lee haul when making all to justify 10/11 favouritism in the Tote.ie Median Auction Maiden.
“It was trainer error stepping him up to a mile the last day – he was quick out of the gates, but didn’t see it out,” admitted Twomey. “This was more suitable. He’s a six- or seven-furlong horse. We’ll see what rating he gets and we might find a ‘winners of one’ for him next.”
Lee completed his 101/1 treble when Misty Cove completed a spectacular across-the-card double for Gavin Cromwell in the finale, the Apex Controls Ltd. Handicap.
The Athassel House combination of Twomey and Lee also came close to success with debutante Andaman Fifty, who came from well off the pace and failed by a neck to catch Baiana in the opening Download The Tote App Fillies Maiden.
Baiana was a 14th winner for Joey Sheridan, now the season’s joint leading rider, alongside with Colin Keane.
And she was the first leg of an across-the-card treble for Joseph O’Brien, who took both three-year-old maidens in Cork to bring his seasonal tally to twenty-three.
Gegenpressing, trained by Eddie and Patrick Harty, Sligo and retained his unbeaten record at Sligo when landing the six-furlong Tote Never Beaten By SP Handicap for the third successive year.
The eight-year-old gelding, now four-from-four on the track, off marks ranging from 46 to 65, pounced off the home turn under Declan McDonogh before keeping Happy Henry at bay by a half-length.
Patrick Harty said, “He loves the hustle and bustle around here and any bit of adversity, he thrives on it.
“It’s a special win for us, our first since Grandad died. And Dad has his colours now.”
