Mokhles and Luke McAteer© Photo Healy Racing
The concluding Crowne Plaza Hotel Dundalk Handicap was won in decisive fashion by the 4/1 favourite Mokhles
Ridden handy when placed on his previous two outings at Gowran Park, a change of tactics was tried here as the Iffraaj gelding was held up in mid-division by Luke McAteer.
He made good headway between horses from two furlongs out and burst clear a furlong from home, going on to readily beat Macaban City (5/1) by two and a half lengths.
Bought for E9,500 from Godolphin in 2018, the 6-year-old was out of action for nearly two years before returning to the fray last term and had been running consistently in defeat this year off marks in the mid-fifties.
Winning trainer Anthony McCann said: "We always thought he was a fair horse but he got an injury the year before last.
"He worked well up here one Sunday and we thought he might be good enough to win a maiden.
“Luke got off him in Gowran the last day (third to Shona Mea on Wednesday) and said he rode him all wrong. He said he wanted to drop him out and that will do the horse the world of good for his confidence.
“This race was really a 0-56 so it wasn’t the strongest and hopefully the handicapper is not too hard on him and he can run in this grade over the winter. There are five in the (Up Monaghan) Syndicate including Rita (Shah).”
Quotes from Alan Magee
