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John O'Riordan
Oliver's City just Picture perfect at Down Royal
Picture Of A City and Dylan Browne McMonagle win the Polypipe Handicap
© Photo Healy Racing
In what was almost a carbon copy of the opening race, Picture Of A City got off the mark at the sixth attempt when staying on well to land the Polypipe Handicap at Down Royal.
Similar to Leigh Roche in the first, winning rider Dylan Browne McMonagle tracked the early pace in third position, before mounting a challenge off the home bend.
Soon having the measure of early leaders, Sea Spray and Evening's Empire the Cityscape colt stayed on strongly to hold off the late efforts of both Mobilise and Navy Beach
First-time cheekpieces appeared to make a big difference to the Andy Oliver trained winner, who looked a much more resolute performer on this occasion.
Andy Oliver said: "He's a horse we thought a lot of. He probably just took a run or two just to get things together.
"Conditions of today's race suited well, so he came here. He is a very versatile horse for ground, so we weren't worried what happened that way.
"I thought Dylan gave him a great ride - it just worked out perfectly, he got in a ideal slot and just arrived at the front.
"He's a horse we see hopefully with a bit of a future. Although he said he's not slow, we do expect him to stay."
Additional reporting by Michael Graham