Shabaaby, in the cheekpieces, motors home© Photo Healy Racing
Shabaaby built upon his promising runner-up berth in Down Royal to win the Indaver Ireland Handicap at Bellewstown.
The 10/3 chance made his move approaching the final furlong of this sprint assignment and was ridden to the front by Donagh O'Connor in the final 150 yards. From there, he went on to score by two and a quarter lengths. Blind Beggar the 3/1 favourite, came through for second as Jarvis (7/2) dropped to third.
Trainer Johnny Levins said: "It was actually a nice performance. He probably had the form to do something like that. I was very happy with his run in Down Royal, he was arguably a little bit unlucky but I think he might have bumped into one up there.
"He came out of the race really well and we decided to give this a crack. He had course form from a run last year and it is a big advantage when you know you handle the track.
"We are on a bit of a roll and long may it continue.
"I think I badly trained him last year and we pulled up stumps with him towards the end of the season and gave him a break. He came back a different horse and he showed us a lot of exuberance on the gallops. We went there (Down Royal) quietly confident, we thought he would show up well and he did.
"He was maybe well handicapped if he transferred it to the track. Down Royal gave us that confidence that he had brought it back to the track. We were happy to turn him out relatively quickly."
