Magnetic North and Robbie Colgan beating Captain Vancouver© Photo Healy Racing
Magnetic North confirmed the good impression he made on his reappearance at Gowran Park earlier this month by taking the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden at Leopardstown.
Very few of the maximum 20-runner field got involved as Captain Vancouver took them along at a strong pace in this mile event.
Robbie Colgan was never too far away on Magnetic North, and the Born To Sea gelding stayed on strongly inside the final furlong to beat the front-runner by two and a quarter lengths. Proud And Elated was a further two lengths back in third, while the 3/1 favourite Bated Beauty who beat just four home on her debut, was found to have burst a blood vessel.
The 14/1 winner is owned and trained by Sheila Lavery who said, “As a two-year-old I think he got stage fright as we always liked him. His first run this year at Gowran he was all over the shop and didn’t have a clue.
“Today Robbie said he was much more professional but it was only near the line that the penny was starting to drop and he thinks there is a huge amount of improvement still in him.
“He rode a hurdle winner last night and now on the Flat — how cool is that! I’ve been training five years and Robbie has been with me every day since I started. I kept asking him to lock his fridge and now he has!
“We’ll see what the handicapper thinks and take it from there.”
