Donal Murphy
Jayed scores on his handicap debut
Jayed Jidan is driven out by Pat Smullen to beat Stronger Than Me (cheekpieces) and Karamaya (green)
© Photo Healy Racing
Jayed Jidan followed up on his recent maiden success at Galway, as he took the last at the Curragh this afternoon, the Irish Field Handicap.
Trained by Dermot Weld and ridden by Pat Smullen, the three-year-old son of Teofilo was making his handicap debut today, and he was sent off a 5/1 chance.
Prominent throughout, he was in front two furlongs from home, keeping on well from there on the rail, to score by half a length. Stronger Than Me ran on well in the closing stages to take second at 4/1 (opened 6/1 on-course), under Johnny Murtagh for Bill Farrell, while the 7/2 favourite, Karamaya was a neck back in third under Declan McDonogh for John Oxx.
Dermot Weld said afterwards: "It was a good tactical ride. It was a good drive from Pat and he got first run on them.
"He is a good ground horse and we got away with it in Galway when he won his maiden well.
"That was the plan, and we will look for a similar sort of race for him now and maybe look at the Irish Cambridgeshire."
Additional reporting by Gary Carson