Akhlaaq wins Leopardstown's finale

Akhlaaq was a 16/1 winner for trainer Tony Martin in the concluding Gain The Advantage Series Handicap (Div II) at Leopardstown today, scoring under jockey Robbie Colgan.

Late Hamdan Al Maktoum sold Akhlaaq for £22,000 from trainer Owen Burrows' yard in October 2018 and while subsequently absent for 631 days, reappeared in 2020 with six unplaced runs which saw his rating fall from 82 to today's 65.

The son of New Approach today defeated Pinpointed by half a length and afterwards jockey Colgan, recording his first winner of the new flat season, reported “he’s a nice horse and the ground helped him a bit. He was on fire today and travelled around really well.

“He’s come down a bit in the ratings which also helped and it didn’t look the greatest race on paper. Everything played to his strengths.”

Quotes from Alan Magee