Eagle s Way and Chris Hayes hold off Chally Chute© Photo Healy Racing
Eagle’s Way, bought out of Sir Mark Prescott’s yard for 120,000 guineas last autumn, made a big dent in that purchase price when landing the €110,000 Guinness Handicap — the feature on day five of the Galway Festival.
Trained by Bill Durkan and given a positive ride by Chris Hayes, the Gleneagles gelding proved ultra tough in front. Chally Chute came home strongly and was closing the gap all the way to the line but came up a short-head short, with Soaring Monarch a length and a quarter back in third. Sirius successful here at odds of 50/1 in the feature on Monday evening, was sent off the 4/1 favourite to follow up but could make no headway in the straight finishing nearly five lengths further back in fourth.
Durkan's assistant Gary Bannon said, "He's a horse that we liked and we thought he'd win over hurdles the first day but he kicked a lot of hurdles out of the ground so we reverted back to the Flat for now.
“We gave him a prep run in Bellewstown, with this in mind, and he won quite well. I suppose he's maybe going to be out of handicaps now after that.
“Chris said he idled the whole way up the straight and that he was a winner everywhere but was just not doing a stroke.
“It's great for Bill and the lads, who are great supporters. This means everything to them, I think their last winner here was Quinmaster in the Galway Mile and that was a long time ago.
“Our horses have been running well all week and hitting the crossbar so it's just great for a small yard to come here and pick up a big pot like that. It's a big team effort.
“He was good and tough, he doesn't show you a lot at home. I thought when we brought him home from the sales 'what am I after doing buying this fella!'.
“He saves it for the day. I was a little bit worried about the ground but he's tough and he's game.
“It was between him and Baltic Bird on Monday evening and I just thought that maybe another half a mile around here could get a bit rough for him so I said I'd wait for this race.
“I think he'll step up in trip. Sir Mark Prescott definitely thought he'd step up in trip. He stayed at a mile-and-a-quarter in England for all his runs, and I was a little bit worried, but he stays very well and we're happy to have him.”
Quotes by Gary Carson
