Craft Irish leads home Lopes Gold© Photo Healy Racing
Craft Irish and 7lb-claimer Jake Coen teamed up to land the fillies' and mares' handicap at Sligo.
The four-year-old filly was noted being supported from 6/1 - 5/2 before racing for this extended five furlong handicap and went off 3/1 favourite.
She was a shade keen tracking It Might Be You and was almost on terms halfway. Coen got after her rounding the home bend and she soon responded to head It Might Be You. Lopes Gold was the danger racing into the final furlong as she threw down her challenge. Try as she might, though, she couldn't get on terms with the winner who was ridden to keep finding all the way to the line.
She won by half a length from the 9/2 runner-up. Mass Gathering was a length and a quarter back in third at 11/2 from double those odds.
Trainer Pat Murphy said: "She seemed to stay well when we were racing her in Dundalk but it might have been out of greenness. After the penny dropped with her, all she wanted to do was go forward. She’s obviously sharpened up and was able to lie up with the pace today, even though she was actually on and off it a bit.
“Maybe that’s her trip now because she just seems to want to get on with things. She wasn’t really sure what to do when she hit the front and hopefully she’ll pick up another one or two during the summer.
“She had a bad experience at Leopardstown, she was drawn wide and ran very keen. She wasn’t as bad in Limerick but was still keen, and the drop back to six seems to have helped.
“Jake gave her a great ride. He’s flying and it means a lot to have a rider with a bit of confidence on her because she is tricky.”
This was Coen's fourth winner in the last five days.
Additional reporting by Mark Nunan
