Father and son, trainer and jockey combination of Denis and Ross Coakley were on the mark in the first division of the Christmas Party Nights At Dundalk Handicap at Dundalk today as their Munfallet registered a first Irish win and a seventh overall success.

The son of Royal Applause joined Team Coakley last November and today, on his ninth subsequent Irish start beat runner-up Rippling Waters by a length and a quarter.

Jockey Ross Coakley later said “it’s about time I got it right on him, and if it was any other trainer I would have lost the ride a long time ago!

“My dad does a great job with them. He wouldn’t be as straight forward as Park Row (eight-time winner) and you have to cod him along. The last twice I didn’t want to take his enthusiasm off him but it just played out that he wasn’t getting home.

“It worked out well today. I got into a nice position and he travelled away well, picked up and has done it nicely.

“He’s a horse that was rated higher in his earlier days, so we knew he had the ability it was just trying to get it out of him. Hopefully he’ll get a bit of confidence from that and there might be another one in him.”

The Coakley family-owned Munfallet is currently with his fourth trainer and had gained previous wins at Salisbury, Hamilton (twice), Leicester, Chepstow and Haydock.

Quotes from Alan Magee