Dense Star off the mark in great style The Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden saw Dense Star (15/8) get off the mark on her seventh start with an emphatic win from the 13/8 favourite Watercolormemories in second. Mikey Sheehy, partnering his 12th winner of the campaign, tracked the market leader before letting the daughter of Starspangledbanner go a furlong and a half from home. She stretched away for a six length victory, with another two lengths back to Wood Ranger (11/4) in third. Rated 94, the winner had been placed in four of her five runs in maidens and was fourth in a Listed event at Naas won by subsequent Lowther Stakes heroine Miss Amulet. Brendan Powell, assistant to winning trainer Joseph O’Brien, said: “She got her head in front. She's not the biggest in the world but she's tough, that's her seventh run of the season. “I don't know whether the ground made a difference. I don't know about the all-weather last time but it was probably the ground the time before. “The second to Steel Bull reads well. Mikey (Sheehy) said today she jumped out, travelled great and when he asked her she picked up well. It's the first time I've seen her quicken like that. “She's rated 94 and we'll see what happens now. Knowing Joseph he'll put her in somewhere and with the pedigrees that these fillies he's got have it's important to get some black-type. “She's a tough filly and might prefer a bit better ground. It's dead out there but it's the best ground she's run on for a while.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson
