Elysium puts her best foot forward in Navan Elysium showed good improvement from her first run to land the opening auction fillies' maiden at Navan under Colin Keane. There was a major plunge on Gavin Cromwell's newcomer Giselles Thunder (morning price of 16/1 down to an SP of 9/2) who had the benefit of stall one. It was the 11/10 favourite Dense Star who broke smartly, though, to lead in this extended five furlongs race. She was soon tracked by Miss Amulet with Giselles Thunder and Boasting close up. Meanwhile, Elysium raced towards the rear of the 10 runners. Giselles Thunder was switched out from the rail at the two pole to unleash her run. She headed Dense Star and Miss Amulet in the final 150 yards, however, Elysium had moved in fourth and was winding up her challenge. She was soon ridden to come with a devastating late surge to grab Giselles Thunder with 50 yards to go. The daughter of Belardo won going away by a length and three quarters at 12/1. Giselles Thunder had to settle for second, a length and three parts in front of the 'jolly' Dense Star. Trainer Noel Meade said: “She's a nice filly. We were disappointed when she ran the last day but nothing went right for her. “She was slow out of the gate and got bumped a few times. Gavin (Ryan) rode and said she came home really well. He liked her a lot. “She had been showing us plenty at home and if she didn't do it the ones at home were in trouble! “There was a little ease in it today but I always thought she'd love fast ground because she's a real daisy cutter. She shows us plenty of boot at home and we're hoping she'll go on from there. “She's a sweet filly and she's out of a mare who was second in the Chesham so there is a decent pedigree there.” Elysium's debut effort saw her finish 10th of 16 runners at Naas when Irish racing resumed there on June 8th, after being tardy at the start. She turned around the form of that race as Dense Star had finished in front of her in fourth. Additional reporting by Gary Carson
