Birthday boy Dias welcomes thirties with winner

Birthday boy Diego Dias waved goodbye to his twenties in some style, at Dundalk tonight, scoring his first winner for three and a half years on Matjar in the Www.valuecentre.ie Handicap (div 1).

The Brazilian jockey produced Matjar to lead along the inside rail in the straight before staying on well for an easy win two and three parts length win over Aragorn Icon

Dias, who turned 30 today, passed the winning post with a victory wave worthy of the Galway Festival and later mentioned “that is my fifth winner in Ireland but my first for some time!”

Winning trainer Joe Quinn, from Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, was absent but also had provided Dias with each of his previous four winners in Ireland, the latest coming on the same horse, Matjar at Killarney in July 2008.