18+ | Commercial Content | T&Cs apply | Wagering and T&Cs apply | Play Responsibly | Advertising Disclosure
icon
Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Shuttle flies home in bumper

Fri 12th Jan 2024, 16:13

Shuttle Diplomacy and Patrick Mullins Shuttle Diplomacy and Patrick Mullins
© Photo Healy Racing

Shuttle Diplomacy charted a wide course in the bumper at Naas and knuckled down well in the closing stages to land the spoils in the finale for Tom Cooper and Patrick Mullins.

The French-bred son of Dschingis Secret was prominent on the outer throughout in the two-miler as Frogman led on the inner.

Mullins asked the 10/3 favourite to pick up the front-runner passing the furlong pole and despite hanging to his left in the closing stages his mount stayed on well to score by a length-and-a-half over Wartime Leader

Cooper said:- “He was very green even though he’s been away a couple of times but it’s different when they come here.

He looked at the road crossing and if he didn’t hang he would have won easily. I’d say it was a good race.

“We might go to Limerick for the Listed bumper and then hang on for Punchestown. He’ll jump a hurdle and has plenty of schooling done.

 

“He came to me as a two-year-old. He’s had his breaks but they take a lot of work for these four-year-old races. The man on top was masterful.”

(Quotes by Alan Magee)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.