Fairytale Princess a Blessing for connections

The first division of the Gateway Hotel Dundalk Race & Stay Handicap was won by Even-money favourite Fairytale Princess under a no-nonsense ride from Colin Keane.

A winner over an extended ten furlongs here in September, the Ger Lyons-trained daughter of Camelot raced in second before coming through to lead over 2f out. From that point she was never really threatened and was ridden out to account for Brave Thought by two lengths.

Assistant trainer Shane Lyons said: "She has just absolutely transformed since we went to the all-weather.

"She is a beautiful looking, scopey mare and we will have a bit of fun with her now going up in the ratings. While she is in that form, there is no reason to stop with her.

"She'll get further and Kevin (Blessing, Woodridge Stables Limited) is a sporting man. He'll keep her in training next year to see if she improves even more on good or better ground for black-type.

"There is a good programme (to go through the grades here) so we will keep going with her until she tells us that she is tired and then she will have a break."

Quotes from Michael Graham