Quirke shows the way with Down Royal winner Cian Quirke registered his fourth success of 2025 at Down Royal today, as the jockey steered easy winner Thistheway (9/2) to land the Coors Mares Handicap Hurdle for trainer Yvonne Latta. Homebred and bought-back for only €2,000 at the 2022 Tattersalls summer store sale, Thisistheway subsequently scored on bumper debut and today followed up an October maiden hurdle success, when winning hard-held by 4.5 lengths from Albatala. Jockey Quirke had suffered leg and wrist breaks, respectively, in 2023 and 2024 but has done well in recent months and today reported “fair play to Yvonne and Andrew (Latta) and their team as they had the mare spot on. They quietly fancied her coming here and couldn't understand what went wrong the last day. "She's a lovely mare and the family are well able to ‘do’ them, so fair play to them.” He added “she probably wants 2m4f but a strong two-mile gallop suited and she winged hurdles everywhere. I had loads going down to the last but was plenty green when she hit the front. She'll improve a bit again. "I'm very lucky getting some great support now and hopefully we keep her rolling now for another while." Quotes from Michael Graham
