Danz Gift (left) finishes best to beat Go Kart and Strategic Force (right)© Photo Healy Racing
Danz Gift recorded his third win over the minimum trip at Dundalk when produced with a well-timed run by Ronan Whelan to land the Meridian Security Handicap.
The Sheila Lavery-trained gelding came from off the pace to win twice here last winter, and Whelan repeated the tactics to perfection.
The 6/1 chance travelled sweetly but Whelan waited until inside the final furlong before mounting his challenge, and got up in the final strides to score by a neck from Go Kart
The 2/1 favourite Strategic Force held every chance but couldn’t find any extra in the closing stages to finish just a short-head further back in third.
Lavery said, “He’s been in great form and I was a bit disappointed that he didn’t win the last day but things just didn’t go his way. He got a bump and grabbed the bit, and ran his race in the middle of the race. He has to switch off and drop the bit.
“Things have to fall his way but a lot of sprinters are like that, and you can run a race ten times and different horses will win.
“He’s a really good servant and loves his five furlongs. He’s sticking at it better now, and getting better with age.
“We’ll stick to more of the same, and hopefully the handicapper won’t kill us. I think he’s better on this surface than the grass, so he’ll have the summer off and come back here again in the winter.”
