Troon comes home a comfortable winner of the first under Pat Smullen© Photo Healy Racing
For the second day running Pat Smullen & Dermot Weld overturned a Ballydoyle 'jolly' as they took the opening Helena Sheahan Memorial Maiden with Troon
Yesterday it was the 5/2 shot Secret Recipe who beat the even money favourite Hall Of Mirrors while today it was Troon at 11/4 who upset the odds by beating the 11/8 favourite Exact (drifted from evens on-course).
The 3yo son of Kitten's Joy had one run to his name before today that coming at Killarney earlier this month where he finished seventh of nine behind Crystal Kangaroo.
He clearly learned a lot from that experience as he tracked the leader, Exact, in second before improving to lead a furlong and a half from home going on from there to score by three lengths at the line in comfortable fashion.
Exact had to settle for second under Joseph O'Brien while Mount McLeod was three and three parts of a length back in third on his first start for Pat Flynn at 9/1.
Winning rider Pat Smullen said afterwards: "I could see the horse in front (Exact) was struggling quite a bit and I didn’t want to challenge him too soon.
"He did it well in the end. Obviously once we get some better ground he should improve again. It was a good opportunity and he has taken it well."
(On-course reporting by Alan Magee)
