Hayes wins Ladies Derby on French recruit Alanya

A mark of 77 underestimated Alanya s ability as she routed the field in the Kildare Village Ladies Derby Handicap under Amy Jo Hayes.

The four-year-old daughter of Le Havre raced three times in her native France and was successful in a fillies' maiden at Pau in February last year.

Tom Gibney looks to have a useful recruit on his hands and she won't be 40/1 again for a very long time.

She hugged the paint and tanked into contention a furlong and a-half from home. Once Hayes pushed her past Longbourn a furlong out the race was over. Her mount moved further and further clear to come in by four and three-quarter lengths. Higher Kingdom was best of the rest at 28/1, a head in front of Jungle Cove (12/1).

Hayes said: "It is brilliant and that is winner number 10!

"She absolutely flew home!

"I was drawn one and was to take advantage of the rail. He (Gibney) said not to go too forward or too soon, track the leaders and she flew away home with me.

"Dave Keena is my new agent and he rang me up the day after I rode a winner in Ballinrobe and he said 'you're riding one for Tom Gibney in the ladies' race.

"To even ride in the ladies' race is brilliant never mind riding the winner!

"I'm from Fethard, Tipperary and I was doing ponies and showjumping and hunting all along when I was a child. I did my apprenticeship with Joe Murphy for two years and I've been with Andy (Slattery) the last three years. Thank God for the lads, they are looking after me and getting me the spins on the winners!"

Gibney said: “I'm obviously not that shrewd when she was 40/1!”

“She hadn't run in a long time. Even though we did a good bit with her, I still thought she'd probably need the race. I wasn't sure about the ground either.

“It's a lovely surprise for us and we're delighted.

“Kevin Haigney found her, he hasn't been well for the last nine weeks so this will be a great tonic for him. Himself and Oisin Brown went over and brought her back about ten months ago.

“She had a few problems, but thankfully we managed to sort them out and she's a lovely filly to do anything with.

“We can start trying to make a plan now, I didn't really know what we had until we ran her and saw how she got on.

“I couldn't be happier looking at that. She won over ten (furlongs) in France and she might get further but she's got the boot for that.

“Kevin (Haigney Bloodstock Ltd) is a big supporter of mine, he invested heavily in the last 12 months and he's got a bit of a breeding operation of his own going, so I'll see if I can help him make a fist of that.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson