Mythology (blue and orange cap) © Photo Healy Racing
Mythology (7/4) was another winning favourite on day one at Galway as he landed the Claregalwayhotel.ie Irish (C&G) EBF Maiden.
Dylan Browne McMonagle settled his mount behind the leaders on the rail and angled out for a run in the dip. In front a furlong down, the Starspangledbanner colt was ridden out to beat Sea The Polaris by two-and-a-quarter lengths.
Winning trainer Joseph O’Brien said: “He’d a very good run in the Curragh the last day and also the day before as well. He deserved to get his head in front.
“He’ll get confidence from that and hopefully he can build on that and go into Stakes company.
“He came from the Breeze Ups and was well recommended by Willie Browne. He looks like a nice horse that is going places.
“He’ll probably go for a Group race in Deauville in two weeks.
“He handles a bit of juice but I think he’ll be fine on good ground too. It looks tough going out there so he did well to win and it was a nice ride from Dylan.”
Browne McMonagle said: "There was plenty of speed from the gates, plenty wanted to go forward. I would have loved to have been in the front two but I just had to take him back.
"It's his first time around a track like this although he's had a couple of runs. He still was a bit green with me early and took a bit of organising but once I wanted to go, I'd plenty of horse there.
"I had to work to get out but he's a level above those and he picked up well and won well at the line.
"You can only be as forward as you can and it depends on the pace. On this ground when they go too quick, they're always going to stop. It's nice on this kind of ground because you know they're going to spread out a little bit, but we've got a short run-in here so you need a bit of luck when you do go and thankfully it worked out for me.
"He had the experience with a few runs behind him. He's been unlucky, he's been bumping into really good horses in his maidens. We were fairly confident today and thankfully he's got his head in front because he deserves it."
"It's proper soft ground for us (on the Flat) but the few showers is keeping it loose and they're getting through it."
Quotes from Alan Magee
