Northern Rocked, left, wins the valuable premier handicap at Galway© Photo Healy Racing
Northern Rocked may have been Dermot Weld’s second-string in the featured seven furlong ‘Ahonoora’ Premier Handicap, but he forged on under Galway jockey Leigh Roche to give the Rosewell House handler his 10th winner of the festival.
Northern Rocked had been fourth in this race the last two years and he had won over seven furlongs three times before today. An Saighdiur travelled smoothly at the head of affairs and had his 12 rivals off the bridle on the turn for home. However, the petrol started to diminish and Roche pushed Northern Rocked (6/1) past him inside the final furlong. Pintura and Stuccodor (Weld’s 4/1 favourite) both got motoring deep inside the last furlong, but couldn’t catch Northern Rocked and came in second (beaten half a length) and third respectively.
Dermot Weld paid tribute to his horse and owner as he said: “Today was the day. It’s just a pity his owner Mr Olivero is not here. He’s from Italy and he’s had horses with me for about 25 years.
“Because of the change of days [this race was originally scheduled to be run tomorrow] he wasn’t able to change his travel plans.
“He (Northern Rocked) ran well in this race two years ago when Rock Critic won. He didn’t get a clear run.
“Soft ground is the key to him. He’s lost a little bit of his pace but he battled on well and handled this track really well.
“Both my horses ran really good races.”
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
