Chris Hayes rider of Corporal Maddox© Photo Healy Racing
Chris Hayes brought Corporal Maddox from what looked an impossible position, to come through to win the Dublin Bay Cruises Handicap for UK trainer Ron Harris.
The six-year-old gelded son of Royal Applause was without a win in ten starts, but he had run some good races in defeat, and he was close up third on his penultimate outing at York in July.
Sent off at 10/1 this afternoon, he was under pressure towards the rear in the early stages, and he was still towards the rear behind a wall of horses with two furlongs to race.
He was switched to the outside a furlong and a half from home, and he stayed on strongly once he had room, hitting the front just over fifty yards from the finish, scoring by three parts of a length at the line.
The Eamonn O’Connell trained Sassaway (10/1) ran yet another cracker, as she finished second, after attempting to make all under Fergal Lynch. Heuston was just a nose back in third under Ronan Whelan for Reggie Roberts at 11/1, while Nero Emperor (25/1), for Wayne Lordan and Tommy Stack, kept on well to finish fourth under top-weight, a neck behind the third.
Ron Harris said afterwards: "He is a bit of a thinker on the job, and when he got into trouble he came back on the bridle.
"When he switched to the farside he got daylight and he took off.
"He was very good on his day and I’ve been trying him over different trips.
"When he won his claimer he bolted up over six furlongs. I was thinking he’d get seven furlongs or a mile. All the jockeys were saying he wanted seven.
"We decided to stick the hood on him and try him over six furlongs, and see if it made a difference.
"When he was third at York it was a proper competitive race but he let us down the next day.
"We are starting to come over her more and more, and someone mentioned that there is a big handicap here on Leger day so I might have quite a few to bring over for that."
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
