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- Dreal Deal gets the hat-trick in Cork
Michael Graham
Dreal Deal gets the hat-trick in Cork
Dreal Deal posts a facile victory
© Photo Healy Racing
A massively in-form Dreal Deal brought up his hat-trick with the minimum of fuss in the second division of the Dromahane Handicap at Cork.
The 4/9 favourite reappeared under the 6lb penalty for winning at Limerick on Saturday.
Mark Enright didn't have to ask him to change gear as his mount eased home in the final furlong from a hard at work Poster Child (10/1).
The winning margin was three and a quarter lengths. Move King was another five lengths adrift in third at 25/1.
Trainer Ronan McNally said: "He is gorgeous and is a National Hunt horse not a flat horse. He was doing a half-speed there and you'd wonder how he got beaten in a four-year-old point-to-point! It shows the quality of the four-year-old maidens and he obviously can stay and has speed and was still only second.
"We are delighted and while we feel a little hard done-by for getting 26lbs and the second in that race didn't get a pound so we can't really work that out but we'll take it on the chin and move forward.
"He is a jumper and will be a chaser down the line so anything we do now is a bonus. He is a big baby, the yard had aspergillus last year and his first couple of runs I thought were brilliant in maiden hurdles and then went by the wayside and grew two inches since.
"He took a bit of time and I was running him on the flat to sharpen him up and learn to enjoy his racing because they were all bleeding when they got aspergillus.
"It looked like we'd struggle when he went up 19lbs on the flat but he has since gone up another 3lbs so we said we may as well go back to the flat as it looked like he would struggle over hurdles.
"He didn't get in at the Curragh on Thursday and it is probably just as well as three runs in six days wouldn't be ideal. We'll mind him now and I'll put him away and let him develop.
"I am willing to take horses myself but don't want to take horses just for a training fee; I would love to get a couple of nice types to go to the bigger meetings.
"I have six riding out, I still have my kitchen business and I don't intend to get massive into training but it would be nice to have a couple of The Jam Men in the yard so we'll see how things pan out; we're doing ok at the minute."
Dreal Deal started his winning run when landing a massive gamble at Navan in September.
Additional reporting by Tom Weekes