Eastern Wind blows strong up in trip Champion apprentice James Ryan opened his account for the new campaign as Eastern Wind coped well with a step up in trip to land the Good Enuf To Eat Catering Handicap at Bellewstown. The Tom McCourt-trained mare’s four previous wins included a victory over a mile here last autumn and she was well back in the morning before drifting on track from 2/1 out to 4/1. Ryan’s mount asserted early in the final furlong but needed to be driven right out to hold on by half-a-length from Doctor Grace. Waystar was a further two and three-quarter lengths back in third. McCourt said, “I had her in the mile race and I was looking at the entries and I said a small field in this mile and a-half might be worth having a go, so I took her out of the mile and switched into this. "She ran in a hurdle race there about five or six weeks ago in Navan and she was grinding it out well in heavy ground. From that point of view, I thought there was a good chance she would get the trip. "She's down to a lovely mark and we will mess around over hurdles with her as well over the summer. She was running a lovely race in Navan and unfortunately got brought down. "That gives us more options and hopefully she will be a bit of fun through the summer. She will go on any ground as well. "It is good to get off the cold list as well. We had a very good year last year; we had 17 winners between everything up until the end of November. With the horse we have, they are going to reach their ceiling." Quotes by Michael Graham
