Engines On powers home for 33/1 shock at HQ

Engines On provided Prunella Dobbs with a welcome change of fortune when recording a 33/1 shock under promising apprentice Rory Mulligan in the Businessplus.ie Handicap at the Curragh.

The Sioux Nation gelding was racing from 11lb out of the handicap proper but Mulligan’s 7lb claim proved vital as he battled on gamely to hold off the challenge of All Lies Ahead by a length and a quarter. Mercurial was prominent throughout finishing a further two and a quarter lengths back in third with topweight Merisi Diamond completing the places in fourth.

Dobbs, saddling her first winner for 12 months, said: “It’s been a frustrating year for us. I knew I had a good horse but everything was difficult — the ground was wrong, the draw was wrong.

“I thought he wanted further, but I put him in this as it was the last day and the ground was perfect for him.

“We’ve taken a bit of time to ride him the right way and Rory did it perfectly today.

“We had in the back of our minds that we might go hurdling next spring and we might mix it.”

Mulligan was partnering his seventh winner in the last three weeks.