Hometown boy Oisín Murphy shows class with Killarney double
Saga Gaga and Oisín Murphy win The Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Handicap. Pic: Healy Racing
He came, he saw, he conquered.
Day two of Killarney’s July meeting was all about the return of Oisín Murphy and the five-time champion Flat jockey of Britain didn’t disappoint on his first appearance at his hometown track, completing a double when the locally-owned Saga Gaga mastered long-time leader Spanish Temptress to win the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Handicap.
The Michael O’Callaghan-trained Lucky Vega filly came here on the back of a Gowran Park maiden success last month and showed a willing attitude to follow up at odds of 3-1.
“It’s amazing,” O’Callaghan said of the rapturous reception that greeted Saga Gaga on her return to the winner’s enclosure.
“She was bred by Danny Leane, a local man who lives at the top of the road here. It was his dream to have a winner at Killarney. She was his first ever winner when she won at Gowran and now for her to win on home soil with Oisín Murphy riding her is amazing.
“You can see the reception she got and this is what racing is about. It’s great, all their family are here and all the locals.
“The handicapper didn’t miss her, he gave her a mark of 90, but as I said to someone earlier he’s usually right.
“Oisin came in and said she’s still plenty raw, she enjoyed the trip and enjoyed everything. He said she is a stakes filly. To win that against older horses off a mark of 90 was a good performance.”
Leg one of the Murphy brace came in the opening race, the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden, where Celtic Motif made all to cruise to a six-length victory.
The Saxon Warrior filly, back under the care of Joseph O’Brien after a spell in America, was sent off the red-hot 1-5 favourite and duly accounted for her four rivals with a minimum of fuss to give her trainer the second leg of an across the card double after Fastnet Crystal’s victory in the opening race at Downpatrick earlier in the day.
Murphy said: “It’s nice to win on her. She was a standout in the race, she had good form before she went to America for Joseph and had very good form over in America. It was great that she won.”
Asked about reception he himself got, Murphy said: “Thank you to Killarney racecourse and everyone that has come. They put in an awful lot of effort.”
A good day could have been even better for Murphy as Zheleznaya Dama gave a bold sight from the front for a long way in the Handicap.
However, the 5-2 favourite ultimately had no answer for the fast-finishing Cause I like You.
The Michael Mulvany-trained three-year-old filly, sent off at odds of 100-30 here on the back of an encouraging run when second at Bellewstown at the start of this month, looked in a spot of bother early on but ultimately powered home to win, going away, by a length and three-quarters in the hands of Wesley Joyce.
“She fired a warning shot the last day, she was finishing really well in Bellewstown,” Mulvany said. “She’s learning on the job and hopefully now she knows what she’s doing.”
When asked if she could get further, Mulvany replied: “Probably in time, she’s only really settled and has been learning. I’d say a mile to nine furlongs is her trip. I think the penny is only really starting to drop with her and hopefully it’s onwards and upwards.”
Wild Sapphire made a belated breakthrough when justifying 6-4 favouritism in the Hotel Killarney Maiden.
The Dermot Weld-trained No Nay Never had to show a good attitude to get on terms with the frontrunning Sron Na Caise but eventually got his head in front late on before pulling three-quarters of a length clear at the finish.
Winning jockey Chris Hayes said: “I wanted it to be picture-perfect for him today, have one crack inside the furlong pole, and I thought he showed good resolution to gallop to the line. That might do his confidence a bit of good. He likes these nice tracks.”
Hayes went on to complete a double when the Ted Walsh-trained Gaoth Chuil backed up last month’s Leopardstown success by grinding out victory in the Rose Hotel Handicap.
“She’s a right little mare,” Walsh said. “She stays well and handles that two miles but the ground wouldn’t want to be any quicker for her.
“She’ll go to Galway, whatever she gets into. If she got into the big amateur handicap she’d run in it but if not there is a two mile handicap for her.”
The William Durkan-trained Eagle Fang, the horse Gaoth Chuil beat into second at Leopardstown last month, went one place better in the finale, the Thorn Plant Hire Maiden, to justify 15-8 favouritism.
The most exciting finish on the card produced the biggest-priced winner of the evening as 33-1 outsider Red Hugh O'Donnell came out on top in a thrilling three-way battle with Mythical Rock and No More Porter to win the Killarney Plaza Hotel & Spa Handicap.
“I’m over the moon with him,” winning trainer Gillian Scott said. “He’s been in super form at home but you can never be confident enough to say today will be the day. But I’m delighted. He likes this meeting, he won here last year as well. I think Killarney suits him, there’s a long enough straight and when he gets into a fight he’s able to stick his head out.”
