Dandy delivers as the Little Acorn grows

Little Acorns Syndicate-owned Manhattan Dandy (9/1) has blossomed into a useful handicapper and today registered a third career win, landing Leopardstown's Aparto Handicap for trainer Thomas Coyle and jockey James Ryan.

Unsuccessful in his initial 42 starts, the Dandy Man-gelding gained his breakthrough success last July before adding a second success in September and today the seven-year-old defeated runner-up Cage Rattler by 1.75 lengths.

Co Meath-based Coyle commented “the boys (owners) are very good as we weren't thinking a lot when we got him, so to win three is great.

“It's great for a little yard like ours to have a horse like him, he's become very consistent for us and hopefully he can win again for the boys during the summer.”

He added “he loves the ground and I was actually very confident. He probably needed it the last day as he is very hard to get fit. If you look through his runs for the last three seasons with me, it's been his third run that he's done something.

“As fit as I try to get him at home it seems to take him those couple of runs, he's a big gross horse.

“He probably should be jumping but last year went so well we decided to keep at this. If the rain keeps coming we'll keep going. It's not that he's ground dependent but he can just handle it better than other horses.”

Quotes from Gary Carson