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Neville eyes Galway Plate for Portrait

ShesaportraitShesaportrait
© Photo Healy Racing

Shesaportrait produced a fine front-running performance to come home a cosy winner of the concluding McSweeney Arms Hotel 65th Novice Chase at Killarney this evening.

It was a quick double for jockey Mark Enright as he bounced the 3/1 joint-favourite out in front in the 2m6f event and made every yard.

Her rivals were stacked up behind her turning for home but the Paddy Neville-trained mare asserted before the final fence and could afford to ease down in the closing stages to score by five-and-a-half lengths.

Horendus Hulabaloo who had given chase for much, held on for second from Railway Zira The other market leader Bridgets Pet finished a well-beaten fifth of the six runners.

Shesaportrait was following up her win in a mares chase at Limerick in May.

"She's a very good mare and we're lucky to have her and hopefully she'll get into the bottom (of the weights) of the Galway Plate," said Neville.

"I think a lot of her and at the start of the year was hoping to go for the Galway Plate but fellas were telling me I was mad!

"She had great form though and it has been holding up all the time and I just hope she is high enough to sneak into the Plate."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.