Review dundalk 5th Dec

Ben Curtis drew level with arch rival Gary Carroll in the fight for the apprentice jockeys' title with an all-weather double at Dundalk.

The pair are locked together on 39 winners each, four ahead of Joseph O'Brien, with just two meetings to go as they enter the final week of the season.

Defending champion Carroll struck first when Sampers took the Group Discounts At Dundalk Stadium Race.

The Michael Halford-trained 2-1 favourite chased Calm Bay throughout the contest and collared him 100 yards out to score by a length and a quarter.

O'Brien was expected to pull one back with hot favourite Amazing Beauty in the first division of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden, but it was Curtis who swooped to win by a length and a half on John Murphy's 16-1 outsider Valbonne

And in a thrilling climax to the meeting, Curtis then brought the Garvan Donnelly-trained Home Secretary (7-2 joint-favourite) with a sweeping run down the outside to overcome Carroll on Dark Prospect by a length in the www.dundalkstadium.com Handicap.

Fran Berry will be handing over the Aga Khan silks to Johnny Murtagh next season but in the meantime carried them to victory in the second division of the fillies maiden on John Oxx's newcomer Kirinda (100-30), who won more cosily than the three-quarters of a length verdict suggests.

Berry was completing a double after the success of Ability N Delivery (6-1) in the [email protected] Handicap for Cashel trainer Michael Browne, who also had a winner at the track on Saturday from his three-horse string.< Bendzoldan (14-1) had to be brave after being badly squeezed on the inside rail in the Christmas Parties At Dundalk Nursery, rallying to win by a short head under Michael Hussey.< Arcadian Dream (9-2 favourite) survived an alarming late drift to the left to take the Group Discounts At Dundalk Stadium Apprentice Handicap by a neck in the hands of Shane Foley.