Tonkin and Ronan Whelan© Photo Healy Racing
From the flag start Tonkin put his experience to good use in the opening Jet O'Carroll Memorial Irish EBF Maiden (Plus 10 Race) at Listowel.
As it turned out the very testing conditions held no fears for the Camelot colt, and he was always going to be hard to peg back in the straight.
Second at Killarney 20 days back, the Ronan Whelan-ridden Tonkin stepped-up a place by eight and a half lengths from first-timer and favourite Harbour Approach
"I'm glad now because I thought about pulling him out. I like this horse and when I found out there were no stalls I was thinking how bad might it be for a two year old," said winning trainer Patrick Prendergast.
"I knew he'd handle soft and he ran a real nice race at Killarney and the winner was second in a Group 3 since.
"Ronan (Whelan) likes this horse and the reason I ran him was that he is going for the Eyrefield Stakes and I didn't think he was just ready to step into Listed class yet and he would have learned a lot today."
(TW & EM)
