No denying Dempsey's King late on "That was lovely. We were lucky as he nearly threw it away at the second last and the last," reflected Philip Dempsey after Chesterfield King gained the day under the trainer's son Luke in the Follow Fairyhouse On Twitter Rated Novice Hurdle. Backed from 7/1 into 11/2 Chesterfield King nabbed Randalls Ur Poet by a neck, after that one had shaped as a likely winner until late on. "At the second last he galloped out through it and must have lost five or six lengths," elaborated Dempsey. "He's a grand little horse, he's not over-big. He's out of a full-sister to Mr Diablo. "His jumping has a bit to go but he'll learn from that. I was surprised and he battled well. At the second last I thought he was beat and then at the last he landed in a heap as well. "Maybe the second horse was pulling up a bit too but you'd have to be very happy with his attitude. "He made a bad mistake at the last in heavy ground the last day and maybe he's a horse that could be better on better ground, I'm not sure. "We'll look for something similar now." The Stewards interviewed M.J. Bolger, rider of Randalls Ur Poet, concerning his use of the whip in the latter stages of this race. Evidence was heard from the rider concerned. Having viewed a recording of the race and considered the evidence the Stewards were of the opinion that M.J. Bolger was in breach of R10(3)(f) by using his whip with excessive frequency and R10(3)(e) by hitting his mount other than down the shoulder or on the hind quarters. Having taken his good previous record into consideration, the Stewards suspended M.J. Bolger for 1 raceday. S.W. Flanagan, rider of Slievenamon trained by Eric Larkin, reported to the Clerk of Scales that his mount never travelled during this race and was pulled up. (GC & EM)
