Sigh No More and Declan McDonogh © Photo Healy Racing
Having just snuck in as a late reserve, the Joseph O'Brien trained Sigh No More produced an incredible performance in passing the entire field from over two furlongs out to win the Irish EBF Auction Series Maiden at Galway.
Drawn wide in stall 15, jockey Declan McDonogh elected to drop the filly in last and ride for luck. Detached some five or six lengths off the second last horse with just over three furlongs to race, things didn't look too promising for the 14/1 chance. Right And True Green Brothers and Saint Brandon who had been prominent throughout, turned into the straight with nothing between them. Green Brothers was the first of the trio to weaken, with Saint Brandon eventually forging ahead of Right And True well inside the final furlong.
However, McDonogh, who had switched Sigh No More wide early in the straight, flashed home down the outside of runners to lead inside the last 50 yards for a most unlikely success.
Declan McDonogh: “The race changed in the last 150 yards, they just stopped.
“She was a bit sluggish early, and I didn’t travel. We were going hard, and I just let her find her feet.
“When she hit the hill she actually devoured the ground. She could be a nice filly.
“I’d imagine she learned a lot from the first outing and from the three (furlong pole) she started to travel with me, and she kept picking them off and enjoyed that.
“She could have been 15 lengths behind early in the straight.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee.
