Mulgrave and Donagh O'Connor with winning connections© Photo Healy Racing
Mulgrave recorded a sixth course and distance success for connections when swooping late to land the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Handicap at Dundalk.
The John McConnell-trained gelding initiated a hat-trick of wins when taking this mile event 12 months ago and returned to form here having dropped down to a mark of 74.
The six-year-old quickened through a gap just inside the final furlong and finished well under Donagh O’Connor to beat Superior Force by half-a-length with On Our Radar the same distance further back in third.
McConnell said, "Down to a mark that he can win off. He's a very hard horse to train and ride in the races as he is very, very keen. Siobhan (Rutledge) does a brilliant job on him at home and keeps the lid on him the whole time.
"That makes him hard to train because you can never work him which means you are kind of undertraining him the whole time. He has a lot of ability when things fall right for him.
"The syndicate know him and are very patient with him. Delighted for him and another good ride by Donagh there, he is riding very well.
"He did (go to the All Weather Championships last year) and he could possibly go again. There is another race for him here next week. We might come back for that, we will see how he is.
"He was unlucky last year (in Lingfield), he didn't get the clearest of runs and flew home. It was a good day out and they enjoyed it, so we'll see. Delighted for them to get their win today."
Quotes by Michael Graham
