The Highway Rat sticks his nose out

Just five lined up in the William Hill Racing Radio Race but it produced a cracking finish as The Highway Rat bobbed at the right time to thwart Logo Hunter by the narrowest of margins.

A Group 3 winner here last season, Bill Lee’s mount was the one for money all the day and was returned odds-on at 10/11.

He led early in the straight but was joined by Logo Hunter over a furlong out and the pair had a great tussle with the Dandy Man colt just prevailing by a nose to land his fifth win at Dundalk. Easy-to-back Harry's Bar was just a neck away in third.

Winning trainer Andy Oliver said: "It is good to see him back. He was off and missed all the early season with a splint. He had a run back at Tipperary which wasn't of much value to him, he got knocked about at the start and didn't get a blow. Then soft ground at the Curragh which isn't his gig. We were hoping that it brought him on enough.

"It looked like a tidy, wee contest. Those are fast horses on this surface. We hope we are still on the upward, we hope there is still a bit of improvement. He did it well and got to the front and was lucky enough to repel a late charge. I've had four or five consecutive seconds, so I thought this was going to be another. We are relieved it has broken that trend.

"It is a good performance and I'm pleased with him and we will go on from here. The plan is to come back for the Group 3 here next month.

"Last year he was a very young three-year-old and we deliberately resisted going anywhere and travelling just to let him mature. Then it was bad timing that he got a splint just when he was ready to go and he missed the whole spring/summer campaign.

"He's a fresh horse and the idea was that he has strengthened, hopefully he has and he looks well. We are going to see our options now regarding maybe travelling. He needs fast ground, I've no problem with him handling grass. We'll look at that as that looks like he is back to somewhere near his best."

Quotes from Michael Graham