Two races in two days is not A Step Too Far

The 5/4 favourite A Step Too Far made light of a 6lbs penalty for yesterday’s course and distance victory when again making all in the www.ratoathvets.ie Handicap. Teddy Boy got a nice run through from off the pace to lay down a challenge over a furlong out, but the winner quickly shrugged off that rival to win convincingly by two and three lengths.

The winning daughter of Footstepsinthesand was given a 9lbs hike in the ratings for Wednesday’s win, and no doubt will go up another few pounds after this victory which completed a hat-trick of wins after last month’s victory at Naas.

She’s thriving at the moment, as winning trainer Kieran Cotter confirmed: "That's a fantastic result for us. Job done as that's what we set out to do.

“When we saw the two races here we said we'd go 'bang bang'. She was in the Curragh last week and we sidestepped that to come here and it's paid off well.

“For her she settled a bit today having had the run under her belt yesterday. She did the job well.

“She got 9lb for yesterday and the handicapper probably won't miss her again but she's improving.

“We'll have a bit of fun with her, we'll sit back now and see where we go. There is nothing immediately on the horizon and we're under no pressure now.

Winning rider Colin Keane said: “She actually gave me a better ride today. She was more relaxed and was more settled having had the race yesterday.

"The showers have loosened up the ground a bit and there’s a nice bit of fresh ground for us as well. They’ve done a great job here with the ground."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson