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Punchestown 2024
Punchestown 2024
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- Review naas 15th May
Review naas 15th May
Euphrasia is driven out by Gary Carroll to beat Princess Highway and La Collina
© Photo Healy Racing
< Euphrasia caused a huge 33-1 upset when making virtually all to land the Group Three Irish Stallion Farms EBF Blue Wind Stakes at Naas.
Gary Carroll was happy to lead the quartet at a steady pace in the early stages, though favourite Princess Highway appeared to have every move covered.
Carroll slowly wound up the pace on Joe Murphy's charge, though, and that proved too much to bear for the remainder, as she fended off la Collina by two lengths.
Trainer John Murphy got the better of his more illustrious counterparts Aidan O'Brien and Jim Bolger when Big Time landed the Fishery Lane Race.
Always to the fore under Shane Foley, the 16-1 chance kept up a remorseless gallop to beat O'Brien's Fountain Of Youth by a length and a half.
Perhaps the one to take from the race, though, is Bolger's Club Wexford who finished with a wet sail to finish on the heels of the front two.
Experience told in the Dragon Pulse EBF Fillies Maiden as Bolger's Heart Focus (3-1) got the better of the O'Brien newcomer Bye Bye Birdie
The pair pulled clear before the furlong pole but Heart Focus, making her third career start, found more in the closing stages, eventually scoring by half a length under Kevin Manning.
Dermot Weld may have been disappointed by Princess Highway's effort in the big race, but Resolute Response will have given him something to cheer when he landed the Kill Maiden.
The 5-4 favourite looked a little green at the bottom of the climb to the finish, but kept on well to beat Lake Nova by a length and three quarters.< Gathering Power (8-1) opened her account in good style when leading home an Eddie Lynam-trained 1-2 in the Woodlands 100 Club Handicap, responding well to Fergal Lynch's urgings to beat stablemate Boston Rocker by a length and a half.