Coakley shines on Derulo

Ross Coakley gave Derulo a great front-running ride as he made all to take the Revamp Building And Renovations Apprentice 3yo Handicap for trainer Johnny Murtagh.

The Andrew Tinkler owned son of Arakan ran well to finish fifth behind The Islander on his second start at Cork in April but disappointed on his next outing at Dundalk.

Having his first start in handicap company this evening he was sent off a 6/1 chance having opened at 11/2.

Drawn on the rail he quickly went to the front and established a clear lead with Eloge racing in second well ahead of the other five runners.

Eloge tackled the winner from over three furlongs out but he managed to shake off her challenge over a furlong from home and he kept on well from there to score comfortably by two and a half lengths. Intensified who drifted from 9/4 to 3/1 on-course came out of the pack to take second under Daniel Redmond for Jim Bolger while the 9/4 favourite Eloge faded in the closing stages and finished a further four and a half lengths back in third under Christina Simpson for Andy Oliver. Temkin was backed from 8/1 into 4/1 on-course and he finished another length and a quarter back in fourth under Ray Dawson for Bill Farrell.

Johnny Murtagh said afterwards: "He’s a big galloper. He was hard to get fit during the year. He's 440 kilos and I'm after being quite hard on him the last couple of weeks.

"We did always like him but it's taken a while for the penny to drop. Hopefully he progresses and Ross said he loved that ground.

"Ross came to me this year and is a great lad and a great worker. He deserved his chance and he gave him a very good ride. He nicked a couple of lengths and lasted home."

The winner cost €67,000 at Goffs last year and he is a half-brother to Katla who won three Listed races for John Grogan.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson