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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Flannery gets welcome winner with Bowgate

Fri 25th Oct 2024, 15:10

Bowgate Street and Philip Donovan (right) beat Queenofthelodge (left)Bowgate Street and Philip Donovan (right) beat Queenofthelodge (left)
© Photo Healy Racing

Bowgate Street dug deep to land the spoils in the Callan Tansey Mares Handicap Hurdle at Sligo.

The Mick Flannery-trained mare fought it out with Queenofthelodge from before the second last in the two-mile-one contest.

She got under the last flight but knuckled down well to edge ahead in the closing stages, under Philip Donovan, and record a half-length success.

The 11/2 winner was a first for the trainer since May 2022 and he said:-

"She's been close a couple of times, so was entitled to do that.

"We've been knocking on the door with a few horses, so it's great to get one over the line. It's hard to win any type of race in Ireland.

"She has improved a bit since we got her but she ran well for her previous trainer too. We've just worked on a few little things with her and she's been in good shape the last couple of months.

"We'll keep going with her until the ground gets proper soft.

Philip Donovan added:-

"She nearly over-travelled early on, which she had done over two-and-a-half at Roscommon, but she put her head down and tried hard for me. She hung a bit left after four out, which she is known to do, but never really stopped going forward.

"I've ridden a good few horses for Mick and it's lovely to ride a winner for him."

(Quotes by Mark Nunan)

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.