Barry Geraghty gets a kiss from Marie Cronin (left) and Ann McCarthy after Stonehall Jack won for them © Photo Healy Racing
Davy Fitzgerald enjoyed a welcome turn when his Stonehall Jack justified odds of 2/7 in the Garryrichard Stud (C & G) Maiden Hurdle at Wexford. Barry Geraghty kept it simple on the Gamut gelding, making all.
The five-year-old kept on well on the long run for home from the last to comfortably account for Slygufftou and Benhavis by four and a half lengths and a head.
A relieved Fitzgerald remarked: "He wasn't winning out of turn. I needed it more than him!
“He has been running well the whole year and he is only learning to settle. I thought he would have won by now but he was just too free.
“I was trying to hold him up all year and get him to settle and maybe that is the right thing to do with him. We had no choice but to make the running today as it was a poor race.
“Hopefully he will progress. Barry said he wasn't half the horse that he was in Limerick, he has been in training a long time so we will have to give him a break now."
The winner is owned by Anne and Alex McCarthy from Limerick and they also bred him.
The Stewards informed P.J. Rothwell, trainer, that a repeat of the poor performance of Mr Perrie would render the horse liable to suspension.
The Stewards fined P.J. Rothwell, trainer, €350 for lodging a passport in respect of Mr Perrie, in which the vaccinations did not conform with the provisions of Rule 91. The Stewards allowed the horse to run on receipt of the trainer's written assurance that the vaccinations were in order.
A. Ring, rider of Mr Perrie, trained by P.J. Rothwell, reported to the Stewards' Secretaries that his mount hung badly and ran out.
(DM & EM)
