“We’ve had an up and down day. Oodnadatta (in the Kilboy Estate Stakes) put her head down as the stalls opened and Shane went over the top,” reflected Jessica Harrington after Hell Bent turned the tide for the Commonstown team in the Sycamore Lodge Equine Hospital Handicap at the Curragh.

A ‘no show’ in the Ulster Derby last time after getting upset in the stalls, the Mill House LLC-owned Hell Bent here responded well for Foley to get the better of front-runner Always Waitin by a head.

“He toughed it out and had a lot of weight on his back for a three-year-old. He probably needs further and is a good galloper — a mile and a half or a mile and six,” elaborated Mrs Harrington.

“He’s got upset twice in the stalls this year and has run diabolical both times. He walks into the stalls as quite as a lamb with a hood on and you take it off just as the stalls open and he’s perfect.”

(AM & EM)