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Punchestown 2024
Punchestown 2024
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- Review galway 3rd Aug
Review galway 3rd Aug
Northern Rocked, left, wins the valuable premier handicap at Galway
© Photo Healy Racing
Dermot Weld made it 10 winners for the week when Northern Rocked battled to victory in the feature Irish Stallion Farms EBF 'Ahonoora' Handicap at Galway.
Leigh Roche always had the seven-year-old (6-1) close to the pace and went on from the tiring front-runner An Saighdiur deep inside the final furlong.
Last year's winner Pintura charged late in an attempt to land the race again for the Kevin Ryan team but could not quite get there and finished half a length in arrears, with the winner's stablemate Stuccodor taking third.
Ruby Walsh rode a typically patient race to grab the only jumps contest on the card, the Ladbrokes Handicap Hurdle, on the Willie Mullins-trained Call Me Bubbles
The always prominent Shamiran looked to have done enough to win jumping the last, but Walsh had been making significant late progress on the 7-2 favourite and conjured a late run to get up by half a length.
Aidan O'Brien's beautifully bred Iniesta stepped forward from his debut third to take the Ladbrokes Loyalty Card EBF Maiden. Joseph O'Brien sent the 15-8 chance to the front three furlongs out and he ran on resolutely to hold the odds-on Leafcutter by two lengths.
The jockey went on to a treble, sending John Murphy's Capitol Hill (6-1) clear on the final bend in the Get Lucky With Ladbrokes Handicap, and delivering his father Aidan's newcomer Exotic (9-2) with an impressive last-to-first drive to take the Ladbrokes Red Day For JEF EBF Fillies Maiden.
Kevin Manning struck the front coming into the straight on the Brendan Duke-trained Focussed in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Nursery Handicap and the 6-1 chance stuck on well to hold the late charge of Tom Dooley by half a length.
Harry Rogers' veteran 12-year-old Tin Town Boy (12-1), a course and distance winner all of five years ago, burst clear from a furlong out to win the Ladbrokes Feeling Lucky Handicap by three lengths under Chris Hayes.