Belle de Crecy eases to maiden success

Belle de Crecy got off the mark on the fourth time of asking as she ran out an easy winner of the Property Partners Earley Auctioneers Maiden, under her trainer/jockey Johnny Murtagh. Murtagh of course officially took over from Tommy Carmody earlier in the year and it was the first time he partnered one of his own horses to victory. The four-year-old daughter of Rock Of Gibraltar finished second on her debut at Windsor last year when trained by Richard Hannon. She made her debut for Murtagh at Navan last month, finishing third to Rocktique and she then finished second to Scintillula at Leopardstown on her last outing. Sent off the 4/6 favourite, she raced in second for much of the contest before hitting the front in the early straight. She drifted a little left under two furlongs out before soon going clear, staying on well inside the final furlong to score easily by nine and a half lengths. Prima Vista was the one for money on-course (13/2 into 3/1) and he took second under Emmett McNamara for Noel Meade. Johnny Murtagh said afterwards: "She came up against some good fillies on her last two runs. Andrew (Andrew Tinkler, winning owner) likes her and she is a well bred filly. "She came into this on a mark of 81 which I didn’t think was too bad, and hopefully she can win a fillies handicap. "She is a bit fizzy but she maybe able to stay a mile and a half by the end of the year." Additional reporting by Alan Magee