\u201cIt wasn\u2019t ideal to run him back so soon after his debut, but we wanted to get him qualified for the Goffs Million,\u201d Johnny Murtagh admitted after \u20ac300,000 purchase Take Charge Star proved a convincing winner of the two-year-old colts\u2019 maiden in Gowran Park, quickening up nicely and staying on to beat Spangles Sands by two and a half lengths.<\/p>\n
\u201cBen (Coen) was very happy with him in the Curragh, when he was a bit unlucky, and this was the only race for him ahead of the Million. I\u2019m delighted with the way he won and delighted he\u2019s won for new owners in the yard. And the \u20ac50,000 Goffs bonus makes it even better. He\u2019s a nice colt, one of the nicest I have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the fillies\u2019 equivalent, Donnacha O\u2019Brien\u2019s Kensington Lane, runner-up in her last two starts, stepped up to produce an impressive performance, making virtually all the running and stretching clear to slam Luan Mia by five lengths.<\/p>\n
The Starspangledbanner filly was ridden to victory by Gavin Ryan, who said: \u201cShe\u2019s improving away slowly. Her form was solid and she was entitled to win her maiden. Her experience stood to her around here and there should be more to come from her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Gavin Cromwell-trained Ballysax Hank, winner of the Summer Plate in Market Rasen last time, proved best in the concluding Racing Again September 20th Maiden, his first excursion on the Flat.<\/p>\n
Ridden by Gary Carroll, the six-year-old stayed on dourly to deny Seo Linn by a half-length, the pair drawing 10 lengths clear of the rest and prompting the jockey to comment: \u201cI was put to the pin of my collar all the way. We went a good gallop and I got him rolling early. He had a good look in front and ran around a bit, but he hit the line well.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo miles in softer ground would suit and I\u2019m sure Paul Byrne (owner) has a plan for him, both on the Flat and over jumps.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Placed in her two previous starts, the Jessica Harrington-trained Lavender Breeze (16-1) opened her account in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden, sweeping into the lead before holding the persistent challenge of favourite Diego El Queso by a neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has taken time to get her act together but has taken a step forward with each run,\u201d said Kate Harrington. \u201cThey went hard and her wide draw helped. She hit the line well and will handle an ease, we\u2019ll have a shot at a stakes race now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Harrington and Foley doubled-up when top-weight Thrifty Of Digby, whose full-sister Gloriously Glam had won the claimer earlier, dictated the pace and justified 5-1 favouritism in the Support The Irish Injured Jockeys Fund Handicap.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s fresh after a break \u2014 she spent three weeks in a field \u2014 and this should leave her spot on for the fillies\u2019 handicap in Punchestown,\u201d explained Kate Harrington.<\/p>\n
A tremendous servant for trainer Tom McCourt, eight-year-old mare The Bog Bank notched the eighth win of her career when, under Sam Coen, she got up late to foil Slaney Swagger by a half-length in a blanket finish to the Societies Welcome At Gowran Park Apprentice Handicap.<\/p>\n
The consistent but frustrating Washington Street had to settle for the runner-up berth for the fourth time when, as 9-4 favourite, he was collared in the dying strides by Kevin Smith\u2019s Gangsta Man, a 16th winner of the season for apprentice Wesley Joyce.<\/p>\n
And a friendly claim was successful for Gloriously Glam following her gutsy, all-the-way win for Ado McGuinness and Adam Caffery in the fillies\u2019 claimer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt wasn\u2019t ideal to run him back so soon after his debut, but we wanted to get him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-109853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}