Fools Glory, far side, fends off Adhuil© Photo Healy Racing
Fools Glory won a battle with Adhuil for the honours in the Boyle Handicap at Roscommon.
She was sighted towards the head of affairs in the early stages and ran freely before being allowed to stride on by Andrew Slattery.
The jockey was hard at work on her over a quarter of a mile out and the pair were soon tackled by Gregor Mendel
To Fools Glory's credit she kept finding for pressure and saw off that rival by the final furlong, however, Adhuil was next to take a crack. There was little between the pair in the closing stages but Fools Glory stuck to her task gamely by a short head at 14/1 for trainer Paul McEnery. She could have been backed at 80/1 in morning trading.
Runner-up Adhuil went off at 6/1 and was two lengths clear of The Dazzer (9/1).
The trainer's son and assistant Billy said: “Andy said she made him work for it there. She's probably still lacking a little bit of experience. I thought she'd run well but I didn't think we'd win.
“Her work all last year was very good. She used to work with another horse we had, that won a couple of races, called Mister Wilson and she kicked him out of the way to be honest.
“We were a bit disappointed that she didn't go closer in a maiden but it's all forgotten about now.
“She stays well and Andy said she loved the ground, I don't think a mile would be any problem to her.
“We'll have to see where we go from here, we are out of that grade now I'd imagine.
“I'm Paul's son and we work away together. We only train a few horses so any winner we're happy with, we are easy men to please!”
This was Fools Glory's handicap debut after three unplaced runs in maidens.
The Stewards interviewed L.F. Roche, rider of Adhuil, concerning his use of the whip in the latter stages of this race. Evidence was heard from the rider concerned. In his evidence, L.F. Roche accepted that he had exceeded the guidelines for frequency and apologised for his actions. Having viewed a recording of the race and considered the evidence the Stewards were of the opinion that L.F. Roche was in breach of R10(3)(g) by using his whip with excessive frequency. Having taken his previous record into consideration, the Stewards suspended L.F. Roche for one raceday.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
