Simmanka (right) gets the better of Rayisa© Photo Healy Racing
In first time blinkers Simannka (9/4 favourite) really knuckled down in the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Median Auction Fillies Maiden, to touch off her fellow Aga Khan runner, Rayisa (well-backed 5/2 shot), at Galway.
Simannka's win was bringing up a double for Dermot Weld, Pat Smullen, and indeed the Aga Khan, following the win of Ebediyin in the first, and she got the better of Michael Halford's Rayisa by a head.
Rayisa had looked a possible winner when getting the better of Verbosity from a furlong out, but Simannka just wasn't to be denied in the closing stages.
"She deserved that. She was running very consistent and the concern was the outside draw (stall twelve)," acknowledged Weld.
"I think she is a better filly than you saw here the last day, she ran second and I knew there was more there.
"We put blinkers on her the other morning, and they sharpened her up well, and I thought they would help her a lot this evening.
"I'd say that is it for her this year. She will come back next year for a Guineas trial and she appreciated the ease in the ground."
(DM & EM)
