Venezia makes it four for Halford & Foley

Venezia rounded off a memorable evening for Mick Halford and Shane Foley as he took the concluding Dundalk Stadium On Facebook Maiden, completing a four-timer (which came in at just over 50/1) for his trainer and rider.

The son of Galileo was formerly trained in the UK by Martyn Meade and he finished a good fourth in the King George V Stakes at Royal Ascot on his penultimate start.

Making his debut for Halford this evening he was sent off the clear 9/10 favourite.

Settled in third he was ridden to challenge on the inner in the early straight, hitting the front over a furlong out before keeping on well to score by a length and three parts. Carrie Bow Cay finished second at 8/1 under Kevin Manning for Tommy Stack while Kadayma was a further three parts of a length back in third at 12/1 under Declan McDonogh for John Oxx.

Mick Halford said afterwards: “It's been a wonderful night – terrific. We have plenty of nice horses and they are finishing off the season well. They are in good form and Shane is riding great.

“He's a lovely horse. He came to us from England and had some very good form. We were just finding our way along with him and we'll leave it at that for the year.

“He was beaten a few times so we wanted to get a win, get him some confidence and find out a bit about him.

“He stays well and I'd say he'll improve plenty. I think he could be a very nice horse next year.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson