Rapid earns all the Applause at Cork

Rapid Applause advertised the skills of young Curragh-based trainer Michael O’Callaghan when taking the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden in fine style.

The son of Royal Applause, a half-brother to a couple of two-year-old winners and bought for €26,000 as a yearling, quickened up nicely in the closing stages of this six-furlong juvenile event.

Fergal Lynch’s mount had three quarters of a length to spare over The Warrior Aidan O’Brien’s first juvenile runner of the season, with another newcomer Araher over a length back in third.

Rapid Applause was available at 16/1 this morning, and supported from 8/1 into 7’s on track to provide O’Callaghan with his tenth career winner.

O’Callaghan said, “We thought he was a nice horse. He’s a big horse, probably the biggest horse here in the ring today. He wanted the ground to be as good as it was, he wouldn’t want it any softer.

“He’s the best horse that I’ve had anything to do with. He’s been showing us plenty at home and has been working well with Fastidious. He’s getting him off the bridle so we thought we had a chance.

“He’s put on 20 kilos in the past month with training, so that’s a very good sign. I think he’ll come out of this well. Fergal said the hardest thing was putting him to sleep, and figuring out when to press the button because he was never going to be beaten.

“He was bought for a syndicate, and we bought four nice yearlings for them. It was an investment syndicate for them but it also helped to get me started in my first full year with a licence. He’s for sale.”

(TW & AM)