Joseph O’Brien has enjoyed plenty of success in 2011 and partnered his 27th winner of the season when steering Dearest to win the 16th August At Sligo Handicap at Sligo this evening.

Winning trainer John Murphy was not present although O’Brien did subsequently report “the plan wasn’t to make the running but they were going to go very slow so I decided the best thing to do was to make the running.”

The win was Co Cork based Murphy’s sixth of the current Flat campaign.

Thomas Weekes