Rock takes the last for Elliott and Harrington

The Jessica Harrington trained Polished Rock (4/1) followed up on his recent success at Leopardstown, as he took the last at the Curragh this afternoon, the Loughwood Apprentice Handicap.

Partnered by Charlie Elliott, the three-year-old son of Rock Of Gibraltar was ridden in second two furlongs out, but he responded well to pressure, hitting the front inside the final furlong, before keeping on well close home to score by half a length.

The Andrew Oliver trained Jazz Girl adopted her customary front-running tactics under Luke Dempsey, and she ran a brave race but she couldn’t hold off the challenge of the winner, and she had to settle for second at 5/1. Shalaman was sent off the 5/4 favourite (15/8 this morning and 11/8 on-course) under Anastasia O’Brien for Denis Hogan, but he could only manage third, a half a length behind the runner-up.

Jessica Harrington said afterwards: “He is just improving a little bit. It’s hard on the apprentices just using hands and heels as he is a bit of a lazy horse, but he was good there.

"I thought he was never going to get there.

"I’m delighted and we will look for another handicap and we might step him up in trip as he saw that out well.

"He has enough size to go jumping but we will take it one step at a time.

"He had a breathing operation after Gowran and it made all the difference to him, and the first run back after that he was just getting used to being able to breathe again."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson