Bridge Of Dawn avails of the far rail© Photo Healy Racing
Jim Bolger 's Bridge Of Dawn may have been the 66/1 outsider for the 1m2f handicap for three-year-olds at Navan, but it proved no impediment to him making the best way home.
The son of Dawn Approach has been unplaced in three juvenile maidens and was returning off a break of over a year. This was his first venture into handicap company and he had been gelded since his last run.
He was always close to the action and led on his own half a mile from home. Manning kept him to the far rail in the straight and the pair boxed on well. Allihies (7/1) looked a danger on the run to the final furlong and he kept cutting into the deficit on the uphill climb for home.
Bridge Of Dawn had enough in the tank to repel him by half a length, though. Vina Sena was a further three and a half lengths back in third at 7/1.
Manning said: “There has been no racing on that (far) side and it is fresh ground over there. He handled the ground real well and enjoyed it.
“It’s his first run since being gelded. He was a weak individual last year and he’s still a bit raw. He’s a big, angular horse and will keep strengthening up.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
