Westerner hits high Point in Tim Duggan

A plan hatched 12 months ago came to fruition as Westerner Point gave Cork trainer Eoghan O’Grady one of his career highlights in the Tim Duggan Memorial Handicap Chase, the feature on day two of the Christmas Festival meeting at Limerick.

The seven-year-old gelding is proving a great money-spinner for the Thade Quill Syndicate, who are based beside O’Grady in Ballyclough.

The son of Westerner has now won six times, and has picked up nearly 45,000 euro in just over a month having also won a nice prize at Cork last time.

The 8/1 chance was up with the pace throughout under Phillip Enright, and just stayed on best in the closing stages to get the better of Montys Meadow by half a length. Pairofbrowneyes who won this race 12 months ago had to settle for third on this occasion a further four and a half lengths adrift, with Damut completing the places in fourth.

O’Grady said, “Phillip gave him a fantastic ride, and this race has been the plan for the last 12 months. He handles that ground, and will have plenty of options now in the spring.

“I won this race before (ten years ago) with On The Net, so I suppose you could say this is my joint biggest win! The Thade Quill Syndicate are neighbours of mine from Ballyclough (near Mallow)”