Slan Abhaile says goodbye to her rivals Newcomer Slan Abhaile showed a potent turn of foot to settle the opening six-furlong juvenile-maiden at the Curragh. Colin Keane's mount was last of the 16 runners out of the gates and soon raced freely towards the rear of the field. Victoria Road and National Emblem disputed the lead in the first couple of furlongs. Spirit Genie was pushed along on the inner to get on terms at the two pole where Slan Abhaile was noted travelling well albeit with plenty of work still to do. Colin Keane switched all the way from the near side to the far side a furlong and a half down, some eight horses wide. She was in the clear on the outer at the furlong marker where Victoria Road held the lead. The response from Slan Abhaile inside the final furlong was impressive as she glided into contention and readily picked off Victoria Road in the closing stages without Keane having to get serious with her. The Territories filly won going away by a length and a quarter at an easy to back 11/1 from 17/2. Victoria Road was always prominent before giving best in second at 16/5. Wave Machine kept on for third at 22/1. Ger Lyons said: "We haven't been running much lately and have just been very patient with the two-year-olds, the fillies are better than the colts. “She's very immature and we've given her as much time as we possibly could. I have a couple entered over the weekend and we'll hopefully start running the fillies now. “She's nice, she showed plenty of speed and Colin was very impressed with her. He hasn't ridden her much at home so he was pleasantly surprised. “I said to Colin 'you lost your sat nav — you were all over the shop!' He was very impressed with her, she was still green pulling up and she'll improve plenty for it. She's a nice filly.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson
