Fitzgerald hoping to make hay with Dundalk debutante

Dandy Warhol won impressively on debut today, bringing up some big-priced bets to land the DundalkStadium.com Maiden at that racecourse for trainer Barry Fitzgerald and jockey Luke McAteer.

The son of Dandy Man was a 50/1 chance yesterday evening and having opened 20/1 this morning, was returned 11/1 and in the race, raced prominently before quickening clear in the final furlong.

Named after an American rock band whose own name is a play on the name of American pop artist Andy Warhol, Dandy Warhol today displayed greenness in the closing stages but readily beat runner-up National Generaux by four and three parts of a length.

Fitzgerald trains the three year old gelding for his landlord and owner/breeder Michael Foley and afterwards reported “he has showed plenty at home, he's a good horse and I like him. I'd say six or seven (furlongs) will be his trip, Dandy Man was a fast horse as well. He's a compact horse and is definitely a sprinter to look forward to for the summer now.

“I was looking forward to running him as I knew he'd handle the surface because his mother wanted good ground. He wants 'hay' ground as I call it - when the hay is being done, he wants that ground.”

He added “we'll look at a winners' race or a Listed race. We will see what is here, there is no problem coming back here but the grass will be too soft for him at this time of the year.

"It's great for the Foleys (owners) as well, they bred him."

Quotes from Michael Graham