Little to fault in San Andreas

San Andreas came home strongly under Hugh Horgan to take the Follow Us From Home Race in Fairyhouse.

The 4/1 shot worked his way past Bellagio Man inside the final furlong and scooted clear in the closing stages to win by two and a quarter lengths for Joseph O'Brien. Chief Little Hawk came through for second at 15/2.

Assistant trainer Brendan Powell said: “It was a lovely race for him. Hugh gets on great with this horse and that's three he has won on him now.

“I know he won at Naas back in 2018 but we always thought he loved the all-weather but he was good on that quicker ground today. It's beautiful ground out there.

“He's ridden a lovely race on him and it's just nice to see the horse get his head in front again. He's a lovely horse to have for the likes of Hugh to ride.”

The Stewards interviewed H.J. Horgan, rider of San Andreas, concerning his use of the whip in latter stages of this race. Evidence was heard from the rider concerned. In his evidence H.J. Horgan stated that his mount pricked his ears when arriving upsides the leader and he used his whip to keep his mount going but put it away when leading near the finish. Having viewed a recording of the race and considered the evidence the Stewards were of the opinion that H.J. Horgan was in breach of R10(3)(g) by using his whip with excessive frequency. Having taken his previous record into consideration, the Stewards pursuant to R10(6)(a) suspended H.J. Horgan for six racedays. Furthermore, the Stewards referred H.J. Horgan to R.A.C.E for one days tuition on the correct use of the whip.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson