Jockey Timmy Murphy must relish the thought of wearing owner David Speiran's racing silks after he made it seven wins from as many rides for the Adare based farmer, with Childer's Road's win in the 2m1f handicap chase.
Trainer Andrew McNamara was quick to praise Murphy's handling of the easy eight length winner and added 'Timmy has now been successful on all seven rides for David Speiran. We will aim the horse at a similar race again shortly.'
McNamara's 21 year old jockey son of the same name, who finished second behind Childer's Road in the handicap chase, gained quick compensation half an hour later when forcing Charging ahead in a driving three-way finish to the three mile handicap chase.
Winning trainer John Murphy's horses are in fine form and he stated 'Charging deserved that. He's tough and genuine and stays all day. Andrew gave it a cracking ride.'
Gotaknockonthehead's win in the opening 2m4f maiden hurdle provided trainer Michael Ahern with his first winner since renewing his license last February after a gap of almost ten years.
Aherne praised work-rider David Kelly for ironing out a few of the horse's jumping problems, stating 'the mare was a poor jumper but David has done most of the schooling over jumps and that has made a big difference to her.' He added 'I trained over a dozen winners with a handful of horses before handing in my license in 1994.'
The Apprentice Claiming Race went to Tom McCourt's Bali Breeze for jockey Colm O'Donoghue. McCourt later commented 'he ran a bit stale at Thurles last time and he may well win over hurdles at some stage. I hope nobody claims him!' Half an hour later, Bali Breeze was claimed for E11,600.
Trainer Suzanne Lynch was under no illusions after seeing her Market Minstrel win the 33-60 handicap. Lynch commented 'he was entitled to win, racing from the bottom of the handicap. Lets hope he can win another soft race like this!'
First time blinkers worked a treat on David Wachman's Fire Dragon who bolted up in the 1m4f handicap. Seamus Heffernan had few anxious moments on the son of Sadler's Wells who was eased down to win by six lengths. Wachman stated 'he ran well in cheek pieces at Limerick so we tried blinkers today. He loves a bit of ease in the ground and looks like a lovely horse to go hurdling with.'
The bumper was won by Glencairnabbey, under a fine ride from Paul Tobin.
