The Michael Halford trained Surrounding beat her three younger rivals to win the Toals.com Bookmakers Fillies Race at Fairyhouse this evening, scoring under a canny ride from jockey Conor Hoban.

The five year old mare was held up in last, behind three three year old fillies, in the four runner race and with two furlongs to race both Most Gifted (2/5f) and Gasta (14/1) looked likely to play a big part in the outcome. However Hoban produced Surrounding with a well timed challenge to swoop past her rivals inside the final furlong and in the end score a two lengths win over Gasta, with Most Gifted a head further beind in third.

Halford later said “it was a lovely race for her taking on fillies only and obviously when there is an odds-on shot you are never confident, but it was an ideal opportunity to drop her in.

“We had a tongue tie on her for the first time. I’m not sure if it made any difference to her but we felt that she might benefit from it. She hit the line well, and it was nice that they went a good even pace.

“The owners are local and are great supporters of ours and they get a great kick out of it. If we could get her some black type that would be the ultimate aim for her.”

Quotes from Alan Magee