Swiss Army Officer and Emmet McNamara (right)© Photo Healy Racing
Swiss Army Officer (5/1, from as big as 10/1 this morning) made all under Emmet McNamara to take the opening Torc Waterfall Claiming Race.
First-time blinkers certainly did no harm to the 6-year-old, who looked a bit vulnerable coming to the furlong marker,but stayed on well under pressure to hold Eastern Racer (7/2 jt fav) by a length. The other 7/2 joint-favourite Fugacious never landed a blow in seventh.
The winner had scored on softer ground at Cork last October.
It was a second winner of the week at Killarney, after Horoscope on Monday, for last year’s Derby-winning jockey McNamara.
Winning trainer Kevin Coleman said: “He is huge and is 610 kilos at the moment. All his runs this year were in big-field Leopardstown handicaps and he was never beaten more than five or six lengths and ran well every time.
"He needs his own way in front and got it today around here, and Emmet was very good on him and kidded him along and he won well in the end.
"He shows a lot more at home than he does at the track and those claimers are ideal for him, as in a handicap they are all vying for the lead and it is a different story. He'd have won without the blinkers today."
There were no claims made for any of the runners in the race.
Quotes from Thomas Weekes
