Champion-elect Barry Geraghty, fresh from a treble at Gowran Park on Saturday, brought his total for the season to 71 with a confident winning ride on Hot Stuff for trainer John Kiely in the Ballybin Maiden Hurdle.
Having combined to land a major gamble with Coq De Mirande at Down Royal on Saturday, Arthur Moore and Barry Cash teamed up to win the Skreen Novice Hurdle with Well Ridden who stayed on best from the last to beat Jack And Tom and Lord Of The Turf.
The lightly-weighted Make My Day, ridden by Fran Berry for Ted Walsh, romped home by ten lengths from Altregan Boy in the Commons Handicap Hurdle. It was a great deal tighter at the finish of the bumper, in which the Paddy Mullins-trained debutante Native Edurance got up for Robbie Walsh
to edge out Bob Justice by a neck.
Cakestown Lady, one of only a handful of Flat horses trained by Gerry Keane at Trim, was a 20/1 winner of the Mulhuddart Maiden, but there was no element of fluke about her success. The Petorius filly, carrying the colours of her breeder Teresa Thornton, quickend up in fine style under Seamus Heffernan to slam Fast And Furious by six lengths. Mrs Thornton, from Kells in County Meath, is the widow of Des Thornton who was a popular and respected figure in racing and breeding circles in Meath.
Jim Gorman, successful with Castanetta on the first day of the season at The Curragh, followed up when that filly's half-brother Cobourg Lodge, gelded over the winter, defied top weight with a battling neck victory over Rush Brook in the Mullinam Handicap. Four Welsh-based members of the winning Andrews Syndicate were absentees, detained in Dublin by post-Rugby International celebrations.
Gorman also scored at Cork with Sparkling Harmony, while Dermot Weld, in double form at Cork, was also on the mark with Creux Noir who picked up well for Pat Shanahan in the closing stages of the Glascairn Handicap.
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GERAGHTY NATIONAL RIDE
Barry Geraghty, who rode four winners at the week-end to extend his lead in the Irish jockeys' championship to 15, has been booked to ride Call It A Day in next Saturday's Martell Grand Nationalh.
It will be Geraghty's first ride in the race, and marks recognition of his rapid rise to prominence this season. His victory on Hot Stuff at Fairyhouse yesterday brought his total for the season to 71.
He said: 'I didn't know about anything it until I got a call this morning to say that Alan King wanted me to take the ride. Ciaran O'Toole set it up for me, and I'm thrilled to have been offered the opportunity. It's been a great week-end for me with four winners, and this news has helped to make it even better. I'm really looking forward to it'.
