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Halford and Foley at the double

Thu 1st Sep 2011, 18:33

Michael Halford and Shane Foley both completed a double when Elizabeth Coffee sprang a 20/1 shock in the All Ireland Hurling Weekend Handicap at Clonmel.

7/2 favourite Night Singer made a bold bid for home early in the straight but couldn't hold the late surge of the winner inside the final furlong.

The filly got up in the closing stages to grab victory by half a length while Summer Glow also finished strongly to take second in a tight finish.

There was drama at the start with The Drunken Dr rearing as the stalls opened and leaving Rory Cleary behind.

"I thought there was a day in her somewhere. She ran well at Leopardstown earlier in the year but then lost her way," said Halford.

"She's blind in one eye and we didn't discover it until I spotted a shadow in her eye after she was broken and riding.

"She has learned to cope with it and she might be able to win another now. She just got stuck in the ground at Sligo last time.

"I trained her dam, Queens Wharf, and she was a very good mare for me. She went from a rating of 68 to 106."

Halford had taken the opener with the Johnny Murtagh ridden Certerach while Foley scored in the claimer on Ken Condon's Curl Cat

Gary Carson