Review cork 30th Mar

Bold Thady Quill found the drop down to six furlongs to his liking as he swept up the feature race at Cork in great style.

Third in the Irish Lincolnshire last week, the Ken Condon-trained six-year-old went into the Cork Stakes at the top of his game, but had not tried the sprint trip for two and a half years.

The 11-1 shot was settled in rear early on by Billy Lee, but travelled sweetly up to the leaders and collared Cape Of Approval inside the final furlong to win by half a length.

The result completed a swift double for jockey and trainer after the half-length victory of Ballyorban (6-1) in the Mallow Town Summer BBQ Evening July 12th Handicap.

Jim Bolger has had a cracking start to the new Flat season and landed a one-two in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden, though the result was not quite what punters expected.

All seemed to be going smoothly when 6-5 favourite Montferrat hit the front under stable jockey Kevin Manning, but Ronan Whelan swept past on 14-1 shot Sun On The Run and cleared away to score by three and three-quarter lengths.

Whelan doubled up on another from the Bolger team when Aurifodina (3-1 favourite) had just enough in the locker to hold Amazing Star by a neck in the Mallow.ie Apprentice Handicap.

The most impressive winner of the afternoon was Tommy Stack's three-year-old Alive Alive Oh (8-15 favourite), who eased up to the leaders in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden and sprinted clear when asked by Fran Berry, winning by four and a half lengths.

Aidan O'Brien was in Dubai, where he landed a magnificent double on World Cup night, but the show goes on at home and the Ballydoyle runner Fortify (7-4 favourite) took the Best Dressed Lady & Gent (C & G) Maiden by a length and three-quarters under Seamie Heffernan.