Barbapapa gains first turf win under confident Powell ride

Henry De Bromhead's Barbapapa registered the first turf win of his career when staying on strongly under Jamie Powell to take the Unio Employee Benefits Handicap at Leopardstown.

A maiden winner on the all weather at Dundalk in January 2022, the four-year-old hadn't shown a great deal in four subsequent starts but had dropped 12lb as a result.

Quickly into stride on this drop down from a mile, Jamie Powell elected to keep things simple, sitting second behind the early leader, Who Not What

As the latter began to struggle over a furlong out, Powell moved up to take over aboard Barbapapa before kicking on. Half Nutz who was slowly away as per usual, was last turning into the straight, before powering down the outside under Adan Caffrey to finish second.

Jamie Powell said:- “I'm delighted with him. He was dropping down to seven today, myself and Mr de Bromhead were pretty confident that he'd get the trip.

“We steadied up in front the whole way around so I got a lovely tow into the race and when I got by Dylan my lad really picked up and hit the line well. He probably won with a bit in hand.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson.