Harty has A Nice Day

After finishing second to Rose Angel here last week, Have A Nice Day went one place better tonight, as he took the Dundalk Stadium - Light Up Your Night Handicap.

Trained by Sabrina Harty, and ridden by Ronan Whelan, the three-year-old son of Oratorio won his maiden over the course and distance in February, and on his thirteenth start since he finally got another win to his name.

Having opened at 4/1 this morning with Paddy Power, the bay colt was backed from 11/4 to clear 9/4 favouritism on-course.

Settled towards the rear, there was a wall of horses in front of him two furlongs out, but when he finally found a gap a furlong from home, he kept on best, getting up to score by a neck, from Stoichkov in second under Ray Dawson for Michael Cleary at 10/1. Antiquus who went from 16/1 this morning to his starting price of 11/2, hit the front over a furlong out, but he couldn’t hold off the aforementioned duo, finishing a further half a length back in third under Billy Lee for Joanna Morgan.

Sabrina Harty said afterwards: "He so deserved that. He has been so unlucky for about his last five or six runners, and he reared a bit coming out of the stalls today.

"He is a very fresh horse and he was like a maniac at home yesterday. He is small but he is built like a tank and he is very gutsy. All he does is eats and sleeps.

"This was to be his last run before we gave him a break and gelded him.

"His owner is Laurence Dempsey from Edenderry, and he bought him very cheaply (€3,200 at Tattersalls in September 2011), and I'm delighted for him as he is a great supporter."

Additional reporting by Alan Magee