Laughifuwant wins the Cambridgeshire for Colin and Gerry Keane© Photo Healy Racing
Colin Keane is certainly no stranger to the winners’ enclosure but the victory of Laughifuwant in the Paddy Power Irish Cambridgeshire at the Curragh will no doubt have been extra sweet for the former champion jockey as the five-year-old is trained by his father Gerry.
The son of Roderic O’Connor was landing his second Premier Handicap having also won the Ahonoora at last year’s Galway Festival but his campaign this season has been curtailed as connections waited for soft ground.
The recent inclement weather meant the going on the straight mile course was heavy, and Laughifuwant was delivered with a perfectly timed challenge to land the spoils.
The 14/1 chance made headway between horses over a furlong out, and led inside the final 100 yards to score by three quarters of a length.
The Sheila Lavery-trained pair Quizical and Breaking Story finished second and third, with Agitare also close-up in fourth.
Gerry Keane said, “He’s a good horse on soft ground, the softer the better.
“We couldn’t run him all year and had to go to Galway without a run. He still ran a blinder and it probably left him right for here.
“He’ll probably go to Leopardstown for the Sovereign Path Premier Handicap over seven furlongs.
“His two previous wins were over seven furlongs (both at Galway) and Colin changed tactics completely today and dropped him in. He said he wouldn’t make too much use of him in case he didn’t get the trip.
“It’s great for us to have a horse like him. We bought him to sell as a Breeze-Up horse but couldn’t even get him into the sale.
“I only have a handful in training and mostly pre-train for Ger (Lyons). He’s keeping us alive!”
