O'Donoghue saddles first juvenile winner with Path Pearling Path stepped forward nicely from his debut run to open his account in the six-furlong maiden at Fairyhouse this evening. The Holy Roman Emperor colt was fifth first time at the Curragh and went to post 5/2 favourite today. Gary Halpin tracked the leaders before producing his mount to lead over a furlong from home. The John O'Donoghue-trained colt galloped on strongly in the closing stages to post a length-and-a-half win over Spirit Genie. It was a first two-year-old winner for the trainer who said:- “We swerved the Curragh at the weekend because there was a little bit of yielding in the ground. “We were a bit disappointed on his debut, we thought he got a bit tired in the final furlong so we were just hunting for a better surface. Thankfully we got that today. “It's always a plus to get a two-year-old winner nice and early. We've always liked this guy and it's great to get the box ticked. “We have him in the Railway Stakes. His owner (Fawzi Abdulla Nass) is very established in the UK and is used to having good horses, we'll see what the guys think now and take it from there. “His breeding would indicate he'll get a bit further and we'll just take it in stages with him.”
