Hickey records first flat win

Hawthorne from the Michael Hickey stable made it a winning debut after taking the opening race on this afternoon's card, the Mocklershill Stables Maiden in the hands of Shane Gorey at odds of 20/1.

Hickey who is from Sunnyhill Stud in Kilcullen said afterwards, “My son Paul bought this horse as a breeze up sale horse but he was left over after the Craven Sale in Newmarket.”

“Paul spent 3 years with Aidan O’Brien and most of the credit for this win should go to him. This is our first runner on the flat we’ve had a couple of National Hunt runners before.”

“He was going very nicely at home but it was very hard to judge what we had.”