Sparkle provides plenty of joy for Harrington/O'Donoghue

Sparkle’n’joy confirmed the promise of her two previous outings when taking the Foran Equine Irish EBF Auction Maiden at Naas.

The Jessica Harrington-trained filly was sent off an uneasy 7/4 favourite but was prominent throughout before asserting well inside the final furlong.

The daughter of Sepoy stayed on well in the closing stages for Colm O’Donoghue to score by two and three quarter lengths. Lord Rapscallion an unconsidered 33/1 chance, finished well to take the runner-up spot, with Sakura another half-length away in third.

O’Donoghue said, “She’s done it well and had two nice runs under her belt. She had the experience coming into an Auction Maiden and hopefully she’ll come on again.

“Jessie hasn’t done too much with her since her last two runs. She has plenty of early pace and we can sharpen her up so that she can quicken off it.”