Burns seen to good effect on 'special' Genuine Jim The father and daughter team of Robbie and Nicola Burns combined to take the SIS Supporting Irish Racing Handicap with Genuine Jim. Providing his young rider with her first track success last October, the five-year-old went down by just a head on his return to action at Leopardstown last month. Sent off the 4/1 favourite this afternoon, the Tony McLoughlin-owned chestnut soon raced in second on the outer, improving into a share of the lead from halfway. Gaining an outright advantage with over two-furlongs to go, the 60-rated victor was soon tackled on his outer by Notforalongtime (9/1) and after a good tussle in the closing stages, a length and a quarter separated them at the line. Rory Mulligan was aboard the runner-up for Laura Hourigan, while there was a four and a quarter length gap back to Higher Kingdom (15/2) in third, with reserve Share The Treasure (33/1) another three-quarters of a length away in fourth. There was controversy at the start, with Poppadom's stall failing to open. After a stewards enquiry, he was subsequently declared a non-runner. "I was glad to see the rain coming as I thought Leopardstown the last day was on the quick side for him," the winning trainer reflected. "Cork is a place you can go forward from a wide draw so you don't really pay the price, once you go forward and get in. She was just starting to get him rolling so he'll stay further although I wouldn't run him on quick ground. "Nicola rode her first winner on him back in October so he is special to us and Tony McLoughlin, the owner, is a very good supporter of ours. He couldn't be here today but will be delighted with that." He added: "Nicola has started (in her career) faster than what we imagined and we were up and down, twice a week, to Dundalk last winter. We are pleased as she is still young with only four months riding under her belt, so she can keep learning with experience." STEWARDS REPORTS * The Raceday Stewards enquired into the start of this race where it appeared stall 16 didn't open correctly resulting in Poppadom, ridden by J.S. Dalton, to completely miss the break having gotten stuck in the stalls. Evidence was heard from the rider concerned, Andrew Slattery, trainer, Derek Cullen, I.H.R.B. Starter, and a representitive from the stall handlers team. J.S. Dalton said his horse charged the gate and got his nose stuck. Derek Cullen said from his vantage point he saw the horse charge the stall but waited until he was settled before releasing the gates. Having considered all the evidence, the Raceday Stewards declared Poppadom a non runner under the provisions of Rule 209(v) and took no further action. * R.M Mulligan, rider of Notforalongtime (GB), trained by Laura Hourigan, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount got carried out a little in the last furlong. * J.S. Dalton, rider of Poppadom, trained by Andrew Slattery, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount got his nose stuck in the stall gate resulting in them not opening. * R. Whearty, rider of Sofia Tesoro, trained by T.G.McCourt, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount jumped slow and never travelled. Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
