Ballybacka Queen gets the better of Chicago Girl© Photo Healy Racing
The Pat Fahy trained Ballybacka Queen battled gamely to land the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction 2yo Maiden, providing her rider Pat Smullen with a double (earlier scored on Hurryupharriet , his second in as many days.
The bay daughter of Hurricane Run finished second on her two starts prior to this evening, finishing a neck behind Avenue Gabriel on her debut at the Curragh in June, before finding Tarfasha three and a quarter lengths too good at Galway last week.
Sent off the 9/10 favourite to go one place better this evening, she was prominent throughout, and was ridden into a narrow lead a furlong from home.
She kept on well under pressure in the final furlong, seeing off the challenge of the tail-swishing Chicago Girl (5/1) by half a length. Adelana finished three and a quarter lengths back in third under Declan McDonogh for Mick Halford at 7/1.
Pat Fahy said afterwards: "It is nice to get it out of the way. "I didn’t like running her so soon after Galway but I felt I had to.
"Pat said he always felt confident on her and she kept pulling it out.
"We will freshen her up now and she might have one more run in a Listed race before we leave her off.
"She is a big filly already at 16.1hh."
The winner was bought by Fahy for €12,000 at the Goffs Sportsman Yearling Sale last October.
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
