Aggression (left), under Emmet McNamara© Photo Healy Racing
The Michael O'Callaghan trained Aggression landed an inspired gamble to win the Dundalk Stadium Maiden on debut at Dundalk this evening fending off, amongst others, stablemate and 13/8 favourite Knoxville Bullet from the widest draw.
Backed from 16/1 early this morning all the way in to 5/1 at the off, the son of Marju seemed to blow his chance with a very tardy start but in the end did extraordinarily well to win, quickening up in the style of a very useful type, for a neck win over the vastly more experienced Sassy But Classy
Favourite Knoxville Bullet was quickly out of his ideal drawn in one but tired in the closing stages and finished half a length further back in third. Following the win, Aggression's young trainer Michael O'Callaghan stated “we thought he was a nice horse all year and he's always shown plenty of speed.
“He's taken this long as he had a dirty lung and got sick and is just back. I thought I'd left plenty on him fitness-wise but he has a touch of class and a lot of raw speed.
“It probably helped him leaving it to late in the year as it gave him a bit of time. We'll put him away now and he'll be a real nice sprinter next year on fast ground.
“Six furlongs would be his max trip and everything in our colours is for sale; he'd be very attractive to Hong Kong buyers being by Marju.”
Regarding his own preference before the race, O'Callaghan revealed “I was confident the other horse (favourite Knoxville Bullet) wouldn't get beaten!”
By Thomas Weekes, quotes from Gary Carson
