Darkdeserthighway springs 66/1 surprise

Trainer's wife Siobhan O'Callaghan had her colours carried to victory for the first time at Naas today as her husband Michael O'Callaghan's Darkdeserthighway caused a 66/1 upset in winning the Naas Racecourse Handicap (div I) under jockey Leigh Roche.

The daughter of Hallowed Crown carried '8-0080' form-figures into today's race but her latest run at Fairyhouse was, in hindsight, a luckless one, being checked several times and eased for a 14th place finish.

Today, Roche rectified things by beating Majeski Man into second and afterwards, grasping the gravity of the situation, joked “it's the most important owner in the yard, Mike's wife Siobhan, so if she got beaten there today I might have needed a new job!”

Roche added “things didn't go her way the last day and she had no chance and today she jumped, travelled, quickened up nicely and did it very well.

“We went a good gallop and she had room to manoeuvre. She's not an overly big filly but she tries hard. She's a grand filly, was just a little weak on her first few runs but has strengthened up.”

Quotes from Gary Carson