Six horses claimed in Dundalk's opener

Ballysax Stakes-placed Dalvey was bought back at €20,000 today, having won Dundalk's opening Irishinjuredjockeys.com Apprentice Claiming Race for owner/trainer James McAuley and jockey James Ryan.

Group 3-placed as a three year old in the 2020 Ballysax Stakes, run in July and over today's course-and-distance due to the Covid pandemic, Davley was recording his fifth career success.

The five year old was dismounted before returning to the enclosure with McAuley reporting “he (James Ryan) felt him go wrong when he pulled up, so hopefully he's alright - we will get him checked now in a few minutes.”

“He was actually one of the ones that got out on the road (when 17 horses broke loose and galloped against oncoming cars, in May) and to be fair he suffered badly. We were icing his feet five or six times a day, that's as bad as he was.”

He added “he has always been genuine. Shane (Foley) had ridden him the last two times and said he was lacking confidence and he really wasn't sure where he was putting his feet. Once he gets his confidence, he motors away. He always used to jump out, but today he was sluggish away again.

"That's his third course and distance victory - he won over two miles but actually barely stays a mile and a half. He had dropped down to a reasonable mark for a two-mile race and got away with it."

There were six horses claimed, from the 14 runners, namely:

Runner-up Boragh Empress for €5,000, by Derry Martin Bloodstock to be trained by Barry Fitzgerald.

Third-placed Movie King (€8,000) by B. Geoghegan to be trained by John Geoghegan.

Seventh-placed James Henry (€12,000) by Denis Hogan, for a syndicate.

Eight-placed Supposedtobe (€10,000) by owner/trainer Noel Kelly.

Tenth-placed Deluca Chop (€8,000) by S. Dalton to be trained by Ger O'Leary.

Twelfth-placed Astrelia (€20,000) by Bernadette Leigh to be trained by Peter Fahey,

Quotes from Michael Graham