Leitir Mor swoops for Group 3 glory © Photo Healy Racing
Leitir Mor wore down Lily’s Angel in the Group 3 Ballycorus Stakes at Leopardstown to land the spoils by a neck in a race where less than a length covered the first four home.
Lily’s Angel made a bold bid to win from the front for Ger Lyons and Gary Carroll in this seven furlong race. Her stride started to shorten though inside the final furlong and Manning drove Leitir Mor up on the outside for the victory at 13/2.
“I asked Kevin to give him a blowout for Tuesday! (St James’s Palace Stakes). Seven furlongs or a mile is his trip. I hope he gets a mile on Tuesday,” Jim Bolger commented.
“Ronan Whelan will ride him. He was 117-rated last year and I thought if he came back to his Dewhurst form he would win this evening.”
Liliy’s Angel held on for second at 7/2, just a short head in front of Yellow Rosebud Reply went off the 11/10 favourite, but didn’t get competitive in coming in fifth of the six runners.
Leitir Mor looks to be back on pacemaking duty for Dawn Approach in Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot after Dawn Approach pleased in his work this morning.
Leitir Mor cut out the pace for Dawn Approach in the English 2,000 Guineas before finishing ninth there.
His next outing saw him come home eighth in a Group 3 at the Curragh in late May, a race in which Reply was second to Hitchens.
Bolger and Manning had been successful in the previous race with Club Wexford
On Leitir Mor Kevin Manning said: "He's decent in his own right. He stuck his head down well. I fancied him tonight.
"He's been a pacemaker, but hasn't been beaten far in Group 1's. He was entitled to win a Group 3."
On Dawn Approach, who is due to run at Royal Ascot, Manning added: "I'm looking forward to Dawn Approach on Tuesday. I'm very happy with him."
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
