The domestic evening circuit got underway in Cork with the featured Dairygold Cork Sprint Stakes going to the John Oxx-trained Namid and John Murtagh. The contest lost some of its gloss before racing when Rossini was deemed a non-runner due to a stone bruise.
Dermot Weld's Timote had no answer when Lady Clague's four-year-old colt swept past her at the distance to score by a length from recent Curragh scorer, Desert Magic. The market leader finished back in fifth.
'He's a good horse and we've always liked him. This is his best trip, he's a sprinter and he'll probably go for the Greenland Stakes at the Curragh next,' said the Currabeg trainer.
Carlow trainer Pat Hughes is always a man feared by the layers and with three runners engaged in the 30 runner maiden hurdle it was only minutes before the off time before the cautious bookmakers formed a proper market.
When they did it was all one way traffic as Theseus, formerly with Sir Michael Stoute, attracted plenty of support from 8 to 1 in places to start the hot 11 to 4 favourite. The market proved accurate as the English import shrugged off easy-to-back Fnan under a confident ride from Garrett Cotter.
Later in the evening, Hughes was back in the winners enclosure when Shanillo, in contrast to his earlier winner a drifter in the ring from 9 to 4 to 4 to 1, made virtually every yard a winning one in the hands of Fran Berry to capture the one-mile-and-two-furlong handicap. 'He must go right-handed and we have him handicap over hurdles,' remarked Hughes.
