Pak Army upsets 'jolly' to provide Barry with welcome winner

Pak Army caused a 12/1 upset when beating strongly supported even-money favourite Cacique Royale to win the Tapas & Cocktails @ Dundalk Stadium Handicap (div 1) at Dundalk today for trainer Shay Barry and jockey Rory Cleary.

The son of Arcano improved to lead early in the home straight and while Cacique Royale, backed from 9/2 in the morning and from 2/1 on track in to even-money 'jolly', attempted to challenge in the closing stages, Pak Army battled gamely to fend him off and score a half length win.

Pak Army's trainer Barry was recording his first winner since August 2018 and afterwards stated “we thought he'd come on a little bit from it as he hadn't run in a long time.

“Rory was good and strong on him and he's after dropping down a good bit in the weights. He was third here as a two-year-old and he's only a four-year-old now and he'll mix it (between flat and hurdles). There is a handicap hurdle at Gowran next Friday for him.

“I'm delighted for the boys as they bought into him a couple of months ago.”

Quotes from Gary Carson