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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Firm proves tough in Sligo opener

Fri 27th Oct 2023, 14:16

Firm Footings and Jack KennedyFirm Footings and Jack Kennedy
© Photo Healy Racing

The Gordon Elliott-trained Firm Footings battled best on the run-in to claim the opening Joseph Scanlon Memorial Hurdle at Sligo this afternoon.

Jack Kennedy tracked front-runner Aime Desjy for much of the the two-mile-one contest before letting his jump move up to dispute two from home.

A blunder at that penultimate flight took the 5/1 off the bridle but he rallied to challenge turning for home and there were three in a line over the last as 4/9 favourite Horantzau D'airy joined in.

It was Firm Footings who found most in the closing stages though, going on to post a length-and-a-quarter win over the hotpot.

Kennedy said: "He did well to recover from the mistake at the second-last, I thought that was the beating of him and he could easily have packed it in, but he dug deep and knuckled down when I got stuck into him and galloped to the line.

"He's going to come on from it as well. He seems to have improved and strengthened up a bit. He was always going to be a nice horse but he's probably going to be a bit better this year.

"That trip was as sharp as he'd want, especially around a track like this, and he'll be better over further."

Elliott added: "Two miles is as short as he wants but he's a grand horse and he toughed it out well. We'll probably go chasing with him."

(Quotes by Mark Nunan)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.