Slieveardagh books a Killarney trip

Slieveardagh may have won the Galway Plate Trial at Tipperary but he won’t be heading to the famous festival revealed his trainer Edward O’Grady.

“He won’t go to Galway as he favours left-handed tracks. We might go to Killarney in August instead,” O’Grady said.

“He loves this ground. It didn’t happen for him last year and he got brought down on his first run this season [Down Royal June 21]. Hopefully there’s more to come.

The game Slieveardagh (14/1 but just over 5/1 on the Tote) foiled a gamble on Ballyfinboy (20/1 to 8/1) by a nose. He was ridden to challenge two out by Barry Geraghty and fought off Ballyfinboy after a tussle on the run-in as the grey horse gave everything to get his head in front. Total Excitement at 12/1 was two lengths adrift in third place.

O’Grady was quick to pay credit to Tipperary as he said: “I’d like to thank the team at Tipperary for the extraordinary work they did watering the course.

“The drains are so good here now that some of the water was running straight off the course. They put 30,000 gallons an hour on and they deserve great credit.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes