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Donal Murphy

Donal Murphy

Jack takes the Railway for Lyons & Keane

Sat 25th Jun 2016, 17:14

Medicine Jack (blue and white) proves too good for Peace Envoy (navy)Medicine Jack (blue and white) proves too good for Peace Envoy (navy)
© Photo Healy Racing

Ger Lyons and Colin Keane recorded their biggest success of the season to date, as they combined to take the Group 2 Gain Railway Stakes with Medicine Jack

An eye-catching third on his debut at Leopardstown, the son of Equiano then finished a disappointing sixth when turned out again quickly for a valuable contest at Newbury.

He got off the mark on his most recent effort at Navan, and he was sent off a 6/1 chance today in the colours of owner Sean Jones.

Settled behind the leaders, he was switched right for room with two furlongs to race. He was ridden to challenge from the furlong pole and kept on best inside the final furlong to beat Peace Envoy by half a length.

The runner-up was returned a 7/4 joint-favourite under Ryan Moore for Aidan O'Brien. Dream Of Dreams was the other joint-favourite, and he was well-backed from 9/2 last night and from 11/4 on-course.

The Kevin Ryan trained colt lost ground at the start, and eventually finished third under Pat Smullen.

Ger Lyons said afterwards: "He did what we thought he could do. That's not being cocky, we like him but you never know when you have Ballydoyle to deal with.

"We thought if King Electric could run a race then he had a huge chance.

"We have Psychedelic Funk but we've always said he's not the only one. He went to Royal Ascot but the ground went against him and he ran a great race to finish third as he was the first horse off the bridle.

"This horse is still only half a horse and we were worried he was still not mature.

"I was talking with Colin beforehand and was saying 'have we got this wrong' as King Electric was shorter in the betting but he said no.

"He got a terrible fall earlier in the day and it just goes to show you that it can go one way or the other so quickly in racing. I'm delighted both horses and jockeys were alright.

"I said at Navan that winning a Railway was as important to me as winning a Coventry. They are both Group 2's.

"I made a stupid mistake taking this horse to England (Newbury). It was pure greed and I only took him over to have another horse with Endless Drama.

"I don't like standing around all day for one race and it wasn't fair on him to run him but it didn't do him any harm and he learned from it.

"We'll look at the Phoenix Stakes now with him and Psychedelic Funk."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson

1st
6/1
Tote €6.70 €2.10
2nd
0.5L
7/4JFav
€1.02
3rd
1.5L
7/4JFav
€1.30
4th
0.75L
6/1
About Donal Murphy
Donal graduated from Maynooth University in 2010 with a BBS in Equine Business and since attained a diploma in Sports Journalism from Dublin Business School. He holds a variety of roles in the horse racing industry, reporting for the Press Association and p2p.ie, while also working for SIS and the Tote. From Wexford, he is a keen runner and has completed over 100 parkruns at various locations around the country.