Ha Ha Ha (green and red) beats Tawny Coster (right) © Photo Healy Racing
Just as Desert Crown was moving sweetly into contention in the Derby at Epsom, 2/1 joint-favourite Ha Ha Ha was passing the post in front at Listowel in the one-mile fillies' maden.
Shane Foley sat second on the daughter of Dark Angel as Tawny Coster made the running. Jessica Harrington's filly challenged the front-runner after turning for home and got past her a furlong out. Tawny Coster battled away on the rail but Ha Ha Ha got the better of her by half a length. Butterfly Island three lengths further back, was best of the rest.
The winning trainer's daughter Kate said: “It’s lovely to get a winning bracket with her. She’s a beautifully bred filly, a half-sister to Jack Naylor (runner-up in the 2015 Irish Oaks).
“She’s a filly that is really only starting to fill her frame. She was very small last year and has grown into a lovely big filly.
“She got away with that ground today and as she stops growing, I don’t think she will be ground dependent.
“We’ll probably try to get some black type with her now.”
Quotes from Alan Magee
