Itorio makes all to take Naas opener for Lavery

The Michael Hussey ridden Itorio made all as he ran out a surprise winner of the opener at Naas this evening, the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction 2yo Maiden.

The Sheila Lavery trained colt finished tenth of fourteen behind Stella Street on his debut at Fairyhouse last month, before putting in a much better performance on his next start at Leopardstown, keeping on in the closing stages to finish a never nearer fifth behind Battle Of Marathon.

Sent off a 66/1 shot on his debut and a 50/1 chance on his next outing he went off at just 16's today having touched 20’s on-course.

Drawn in stall seven he broke smartly to lead before quickly moving over to the rail.

He was ridden two furlongs out and he kept on well for pressure to score comfortably by a length and a quarter. Devonshire who was backed from 9/2 to 3/1 on-course, finished second under Wayne Lordan for Willie McCreery, while Fairy Flute (25/1) ran a fine race on debut a further length and a half back in third under Fran Berry for Charles O’Brien. Baroque Poet was sent off the 13/8 favourite (touched 5/4 on-course) but he could only manage a disappointing seventh under Pat Smullen for Dermot Weld.

Sheila Lavery said afterwards: "Mick (Hussey) got off him last week and said he would win next time out.

"He's just thrived since. He lost one kilo after Leopardstown but put it back on and it hasn't taken a funk out of him. He's a lovely horse to deal with.

"Mick said he was a bit green in front but he was very confident of a run like that. He doesn't think that he'll have a problem with seven furlongs and said he'll come on big time from that.

"He's not ground dependent and has a great attitude. I'll go back and have a look at the calendar now and see what there is for him.

"Pat Smullen rode him work very early on and said he would win a maiden."

The winner was sold for €22,000 as a foal and €23,000 as a yearling.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson