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Donal Murphy

Donal Murphy

Magnolia gets the job done

Fri 15th Nov 2013, 19:08

Magnolia Beach sees off Princess Pearlita in front of the Dundalk 'crowd'Magnolia Beach sees off Princess Pearlita in front of the Dundalk 'crowd'
© Photo Healy Racing

Magnolia Beach justified odds-on favouritism in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF 2yo Maiden, scoring under Emmet McNamara for trainer Ger Lyons.

The son of Footstepsinthesand finished second on his debut over seven furlongs last month, when going off a well-backed 4/1 chance.

Having opened a shade of odds-against this morning, he was backed on-course from 4/7 to 2/5 at the off. Settled in second, the Qatar Racing Limited owned colt travelled strongly two furlongs out, and he was soon ridden to the front.

Princess Perlita (6/1), for Mick Halford and Shane Foley, then came with her bid on the outside, and the ‘jolly’ needed to be driven out to see off her challenge, as he went on to score by half a length.

The front-running Relentless Pursuit (14/1) finished a further four and a quarter lengths back in third under Colin Keane, also for Ger Lyons.

Shane Lyons said afterwards: "We have nominated him to go to Dubai and hopefully that is where he will go. He learned a lot from his first run, and he will be a nice horse for next year."

Additional reporting by Alan Magee

About Donal Murphy
Donal graduated from Maynooth University in 2010 with a BBS in Equine Business and since attained a diploma in Sports Journalism from Dublin Business School. He holds a variety of roles in the horse racing industry, reporting for the Press Association and p2p.ie, while also working for SIS and the Tote. From Wexford, he is a keen runner and has completed over 100 parkruns at various locations around the country.