The Phillip Enright-ridden 9/2 chance Winding River took the two and a half-mile handicap chase in good style at Clonmel on Thursday. Trained by Oliver McKiernan, the seven-year-old came home a length and a quarter clear of Philip Dempsey’s 100/30 joint-favourite Clonbury Bridge.
Apprentice title going down to the wire
James Ryan headed into the final week of the season with a one-winner lead in the race to become champion apprentice when landing the biggest success of his career on Ostraka in the Group 3 William Hill Mercury Stakes at Dundalk on Friday. The Danny Murphy-trained 66/1 chance raced up with the pace and led from the two-furlong pole to beat Andy Slattery’s 7/2 shot Powerful Nation by a head with Britishraider Electric Storm, trained by James Tate a neck away in third place. Murphy won the same race a year ago with the 25/1 chance Dun Na Sead. It was Ryan’s 31st winner of the season and he went into the Bank Holiday weekend with the narrowest of advantages over Wayne Hassett with Adam Caffrey on a tally of 29. After Monday’s fixture at Galway, the 2024 Flat season continues at Dundalk on Wednesday and Friday before concluding at the Curragh on Sunday.
Clean sweep for Irish two-year-olds in weekend Group 1 races in France and Britain
Wins for Jessica Harrington, Aidan O'Brien and Joseph O'Brien saw Irish-trained horses capture the final three European Group 1 races for two-year-olds this season over the weekend. At Doncaster on Saturday, Harrington’s Hotazhell rounded off a fine season when getting the better of Aidan O'Brien’s Delacroix in the Futurity Stakes. The Irish pair dominated with Shane Foley’s mount prevailing by a nose. O’Brien and Ryan Moore won the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud on Sunday with Twain which had made a winning debut at Leopardstown only eight days earlier. Joseph O'Brien and Dylan Browne McMonagle added to their Group 1 tally when Tennessee Stud took the Criterium de Saint-Cloud. He had finished a narrow runner-up to Hotazhell in the Group 2 Beresford Stakes at the Curragh on his previous start.
At Cheltenham on Friday, there were wins for the Gavin Cromwell-trained Path D'oroux, ridden by Keith Donoghue in the novices’ chase and the Cian Collins-trained Impero, ridden by Danny Gilligan, in the conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle. It got better for the Irish raiders on Saturday where the first four races on the card went their way. The Ian Donoghue-trained Lisnamult Lad took the novices’ handicap chase, John McConnell’s Intense Approach won the novices’ hurdle, the Henry de Bromhead-trained and Darragh O'Keeffe-ridden Senior Chief beat his own stable companion The Short Go in the handicap chase while Gordon Elliott and Jordan Gainford took the three-mile handicap hurdle with The Wallpark.
Upcoming Fixtures
Dundalk – Wednesday, October 30 (First race 2.14pm)
Thurles – Thursday, October 31 (First race 1.20pm)
Dundalk – Friday, November 1 (First race 5.30pm)
Down Royal – Friday, November 1 (First race 12.25pm)
Down Royal – Saturday, November 2 (First race 12.25pm)
Cork – Sunday, November 3 (First race 12.40pm)
Curragh – Sunday, November 3 (First race 12.27pm)
