Eddie O'Connell's first ride at Laytown proved to be a successful one as Joe Fogarty's Kateeva (without her usual cheek-pieces, not allowed here) made all in the O'Neill's Sports Handicap.
Also bred by the Fogartys, this daughter of Statue Of Liberty, successful on a much slower surface at Tipperary in April, was ridden clear a furlong and a half out and she went on to beat the favourite, Bubbly Bellini by a length and a half. That one met with trouble in running two furlongs out.
O'Connell said: "I went quick, I'm not used to going that quick.
"I was surprised when there was nothing around me at the two furlong pole.
"I gave her a squeeze and she kept galloping. That was my first ride here."
Meanwhile Aidan Fogarty, son of the winning trainer and breeder of Kateeva, said: "The lack of stalls here was the key to her as she hates them.
"We brought her up to Willie McCreery and he found out that the only way around that was to lead her in riderless.
"All credit there goes to Eddie O'Connell as he was very strong on her."
