Oriental Dancer puts her best foot forward on Irish turf Oriental Dancer enjoyed her first venture on Irish turf as she ran out the winner of the Dualway Coaches Handicap at Leopardstown. Mick Halford and Tracey Collins are responsible for the four-year-old filly who was placed three times in Britain for Richard Hannon. She had five outings in Dundalk for Halford and Collins and accrued two further placed efforts. She wound up her challenge in pursuit of Eastern Wind and Below Deck approaching the final furlong and swept through for Ronan Whelan to claim them both 100 yards down. She won going away by a length and a-half at 4/1 from Below Deck (20/1) and Eastern Wind (7/2f). Halford said: “She’s a filly with a lovely pedigree, so it was important to win with her. She ran well a couple of times in Dundalk, but it was hard to get her to settle. “She’s in foal to Dark Angel and we’ve brought her back nice and fresh. The strong pace suited her and she’s after settling a lot better lately at home. “It was very important to get that winning bracket and, having won now, she may win again. “The jockey that owns her is having a wonderful year. She’s owned by Tadhg and Debbie O’Shea, and it only seems like the other day he was an apprentice to me.” Whelan, who was originally booked to ride Bergamasco for Jack Davison in the Britannia at Royal Ascot today, added: “In fairness to Jack, he gave me a good heads up yesterday (that Bergamasco was a non runner) so I was on to Mick who kindly obliged along with Billy (Lee). I was feeling the pressure trying to fill Billy’s boots!” Tadhg O'Shea won the Dubai World Cup on Laurel River this year. Additional reporting by Alan Magee
