Mackay off the mark for Murphy

Apprentice jockey Aaron Mackay rode his first winner in Ireland, and his second in total, when steering the John Murphy trained High Altitude to win the Redbox Brand Consultants Handicap (div 2) at Killarney today.

The gelded son of Papal Bull was a winner at the festival meeting on Wednesday and today followed up when staying on strongly for a half length win over Avalanche

Afterwards Murphy's son and assistant George said “he is a brilliant little horse and is very tough and genuine. He battled on well and seems to love it around here, that's his third win here.

“Aaron is from Douglas in Cork and did the British racing course and rode a winner (Warrior Display at Wolverhampton in January) for Stan Moore over there. He wanted to get back home and is back with us eight or nine months now. It was a great ride today and works very hard.”