Cnoc comes from last to first on handicap debut

Cnoc An Oir (8/1) came from last to first to land the 'Coolio' Handicap under Donnacha O'Brien for his brother Joseph.

Successful on her first start at Dundalk in October, the daughter of Born To Sea finished fourth to Decrypt on her seasonal reappearance at Cork.

She was since a disappointing fourth of five at Killarney, and was fitted with a hood on what was her first start in handicap company this evening.

Settled towards rear, the Joan Brosnan owned bay briefly dropped to last from the three furlong pole.

She was soon angled to the wide outside and was ridden with a furlong left to race, powering home in the closing stages, getting up to prevail by a head. Sky Seven was the one just denied, with Ross Coakley aboard this 12/1 chance for Mick Halford. Halford also saddled the third horse home, and that was Balefire (9/2jfav), a further half a length behind. Jupiter Road also trained by O'Brien, was the other joint-favourite, and he finished a disappointing eighth.

The winning trainer said afterwards: "She was disappointing the last time.We stepped into handicaps today and she came home well. Donnacha gave her a nice ride.

"We'll try and get some black-type now. She is a small filly and she is half-sister to Cabaret who is the dam of Magna Grecia. Caberet was small herself.

"This filly has a big heart and I think she'll be close to getting black-type anyway."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes