Meyo avoids last flight drama to open account on third start

Meyo avoided last flight drama, as she landed some nice bets in the Dairygold Maiden Hurdle.

Fifth and sixth on her first two starts, the Tom Gibney-trained five-year-old was available at 33/1 in early shows for this three-mile contest, eventually going off at just 12s in the colours of Alberta Capital Ltd.

Settled behind the leaders, the bay victor was pushed along from four out and was ridden in fifth on the approach to the straight.

She ultimately found plenty of pressure and swept to the front before the last, surging clear on the run-in to score by six-and-a-half lengths.

Newcomer Just Three (66/1) ran on well to take second under Jack Gilligan for his father Paul, while Atacanter (9/2) was a neck away in third.

Returned the well-backed 5/4 favourite, Silver Gazette was squeezed for room on the inner when coming with his effort on the approach to the last and he eventually finished a luckless fourth under Cian Quirke. (See stewards report below for more)

"I rode her in Cork the first day when she was really green but ran well. It was a bit sharp for her (over 2m5f) at Galway the last day and she learned a lot from there," winning rider Darragh O'Keeffe stated.

"I thought she had an each-way chance today and while I was off the bridle a long way out, in fairness to her she is just very green and behind the bridle. The one thing she does is jump great and the further I was going the better she was getting.

"I'm delighted to ride a winner for Damian and Irene (Conway), who are from Mayo and are here today. It's another great training performance from Tom and he had told me to never give up on her as she'd keep going."

STEWARDS REPORT

The Raceday Stewards enquired into an incident approaching the final hurdle involving Silver Gazette, ridden by C.M. Quirke, placed fourth, and Dixies Girl ridden by S.W. Flanagan, placed fifth, where it appeared an incident occurred. Evidence was heard from the riders concerned. In his evidence, C.M. Quirke stated that he got tight for room on the approach to the final hurdle. S.W. Flanagan stated that he was returning to his inside racing line when he felt pressure from his inside on the approach to the final hurdle. Having viewed the recording of the race and considered the evidence, the Raceday Stewards found S.W. Flanagan was in breach of Rule 214 in that he had ridden improperly, and having considered his record in this regard the Raceday Stewards suspended him for seven racedays.

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes