'Smart' Santa Rossa wins on debut for McLoughlin & O'Hare

Santa Rossa was the third big-priced winner at Fairyhouse today as the Dermot McLoughlin trained filly made a smart debut to win the concluding Irish Racing Yearbook EBF Bumper under jockey Mark O'Hare. Mick The Jiver (18/1) and Havingagoodtime (25/1) were earlier big-priced victors and Santa Rossa did her bit for bookmakers when winning the finale, also at 25/1, and beating 3/1 favourite Fasola Tido into second place.

The winner carries the Conway colours of former stars Harcon and Notre Pere and after the race McLoughlin stated “

she's a nice filly. We've always liked her, we just didn't get her on grass at home with the way the ground was.

“I spotted this race and said we'd start her here. What she'll do after this I don't know.

“Mark (O'Hare) said she's smart, she picked up well and kept going to the line well.

“We just got away with that ground. If it doesn't get too heavy we might go for a winners' race over Christmas or after it. We'll see how she comes out of that.”

Quotes from Gary Carson