Inxile lands a blow for Britain

Inxile put up a staunch defence of last year’s win in the Listed Abergwaun Stakes and duly posted an all-the-way victory at Tipperary.

The English raider, trained by Dandy Nicholls and ridden by his son Adrian, bounced out of gate six and was never headed in the five furlong sprint to win by a length and a half at 5/1. Nocturnal Affair (6/1) and My Girl Anna (6/1) were closing at the finish, but never looked like reeling in the winner in second and third respectively.

The other British raider – Bryan Smart’s Free Zone the 3/1 favourite – suffered contrasting fortunes as he finished last of the nine runners.

“Going down to the start I didn’t think he would handle the ground. It’s very holding, but he came back well and they can call it good ground for all I care!” jockey Adrian Nicholls said.

The winner had an image of a union jack imprinted on his hindquarters which no doubt will further stoke up Irish/British rivalry ahead of this evening’s bantamweight boxing final at the Olympic’s between Ireland’s John Joe Nevin and Britain’s Luke Campbell at 8.45pm tomorrow.

This was seven-year-old Inxile’s 11th career victory. Although most of his form has been on top of the ground, he has twice won at Naas on yielding and yielding to soft ground and also won in France in Deauville on soft ground.

(on course reporting by Alan Magee)