Rebel Rose and Derek O'Connor (left) beat Beyond Ambitious (centre)© Photo Healy Racing
Rebel Rose pulled out all the stops to land the concluding bumper at Limerick this afternoon for trainer Mark Fahey.
The Dylan Thomas mare had been sixth on her debut at Punchestown in January and stepped forward nicely on her second outing.
Derek O'Connor was to the fore throughout on the 9/1 shot (14/1 this morning) and she found plenty when tackled in the closing stages.
9/4 favourite Beyond Ambitious travelled well to take closer order turning for home and was driven to tackle the front-runner a furlong out.
Rebel Rose refused to be passed, however, and stuck her head out gamely to record a half length win.
"Derek was absolutely brilliant on her and used all his experience nipping in and out between the wings, that was the winning and losing of the race,” said Fahey.
"She is a good mare and when we came down we were debating about running her as she will be better on better ground.
"We might keep her going during the summer now and kick on over hurdles. I can't see her going on really heavy ground but she will be a right good fun horse and I'm delighted for the lads involved."
(Quotes by Tom Weekes)
