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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Wind blows away Vinnie Roe rivals

Thu 24th Aug 2023, 19:18

Harbour Wind and Chris Hayes, number 3, break from the stallsHarbour Wind and Chris Hayes, number 3, break from the stalls
© Photo Healy Racing

Harbour Wind quickened up impressively to run out a stylish winner of the Vinnie Roe Stakes at Leopardstown for Dermot Weld.

Chris Hayes settled behind the leaders on the Moyglare-owned gelding in the listed contest before producing the 9/2 to lead just over a furlong from home in the mile-six event.

The Nathaniel gelding soon put daylight between himself and the field as he galloped on strongly to record a three-and-three-quarter length win over Young Ireland

It was a third career win, four four starts, for Harbour Wind and Weld said afterwards:-

“It's a race I like to win, commemorating Vinnie Roe and Pat Smullen is in my mind always.

“He's still a big immature horse, coming forward. He's next year's horse and he'll be trained accordingly.

“I'll speak with his owner Eva Maria Haefner and we'll look at whether we run him again this year and if we do run him once again this year where it will be.

“He'll probably have one more run. We'll go through the options for him.”

When asked if he saw him as a 'Cup' horse he added:- “I do, most definitely. That was a good renewal of that race, plenty of strength and of course he liked the better ground.

“He's very like his uncle Forgotten Rules in every way, make, shape and attitude.

“Chris gave him a lovely ride and he did it well. There is lots to look forward to.”

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.