Action another ace in O'Brien's juvenile pack
Sent off the 4-9 favourite in the hands of Wayne Lordan, Action was a length and a quarter too good for Perisher and Group race targets could now be on the horizon, with Paddy Power making him a 33-1 shot for next year's Derby.
Action and jockey Wayne Lordan after winning the Whiriskey Refrigeration Irish EBF Maiden (PA)
O'Brien's representative Chris Armstrong said: 'Wayne knows the family inside out and they have been very good to him.
'He is a smashing colt, he had a lovely run at the Curragh first time out and just five minutes before this race jumped off, the horse that beat him, Isaac Newton, won at Goodwood, so I'd say it was a very strong maiden.
'It was his first time out in front and he was very green and raw but once Wayne asked him, he found the line well. You probably won't see the best of him until he goes up in trip and he is now in the mix for something like the Golden Fleece on Irish Champions Weekend and then maybe a Futurity Trophy (at Doncaster) or another Group One in France.'
Winning Smut and jockey Jack Kennedy on their way to Galway glory (PA)
Gordon Elliott added the BoyleSports Handicap Hurdle to his big-race tally this week as Winning Smut repelled all challengers in the Listed highlight.
The Cullentra handler had already bagged the Galway Plate and Hurdle, courtesy of Western Fold on Wednesday and Ndaawi on Thursday, and Winning Smut was sent off the 13-2 joint-favourite to keep the bandwagon rolling.
Partnered by Jack Kennedy, Winning Smut was in front turning for home and while Fascile Mode, Chart Topper and Teed Up made late bids for glory, Elliott's charge had two and a quarter lengths in hand at the line.
Elliott's representative Lisa O'Neill said: 'We didn't know how good he was coming into this but he scraped in down the bottom of the weights and having a feather weight in those competitive handicaps helps. Jack gave him a beautiful ride up the inside and said he got there too soon but he toughed it out well.
Winning Smut and connections in the winner's enclosure (PA)
'It is great for his owners (Dennis Reddan) as they have been in racing for a long, long time and they are delighted to have a winner here at Galway. He is a homebred so it means so much to them and hopefully there is plenty more for him over the coming months.'
Some Pretender (evens favourite) made a winning racecourse debut in the Salthill Hotel Irish EBF Mares INH Flat Race, while Andrew Slattery chalked up his third win of the week as Ebony King (9-1) landed the BoyleSports Best Odds Guaranteed Maiden Hurdle.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
'You have to dream' - veteran Forsyth eyes new Derby heights
Six years ago, Craig Forsyth feared his career could be three years ago, he was concerned for Derby County's existence as the club crumbled financially around him and dropped into League One for the first time in 36 now, as the 36-year-old approaches his 13th full season at Pride Park, the Rams' longest serving player is looking to reach new heights - the sort that have been painfully elusive in the past - with a club where he is affectionally known to fans as 'Mr Derby County'."Football is about setbacks, highs and lows and how you deal with them," Forsyth told BBC comes from a player who has managed to play 382 games for Derby despite losing several years of his career to knee the 21 months between November 2015 and August 2017, he managed only four appearances after twice suffering ligament damage to his right did the same to his left knee in 2018, and that cost him another 306 days on the sidelines. It was then that he questioned his future in the game."There were a few times, yeah," Forsyth responded when asked if he thought his career might have been ended by injury."It was probably with that last injury when you thought, 'is it time to call it a day?' "But it's all I've known since I left school and you are a long time retired, so I just thought 'don't give up on it and keep going'. "Thankfully I have managed to get another five or six years so far, and hopefully with a couple more to go." After battling back from those serious injuries, the former Scotland international endured the anxiety of administration and the gloom of relegation to League One, before the relief of promotion back to the leaves getting Derby back to the Premier League as about the only thing that the defender hasn't done in Rams black and in Forsyth's time at Pride Park, Derby have fallen just one win short of promotion to the top flight, losing the Championship play-off final at Wembley against Queens Park Rangers in 2014, and Aston Villa in 2019."It still hurts," Forsyth said of the 1-0 defeat by QPR that he started in 11 years ago."You always think, what if that game had gone the other way and we had got promoted? "There have certainly been opportunities missed. And that is what they are, opportunities to go up to the Premier League. Unfortunately for us, we didn't take them."And for us now it's about that next opportunity. Can we get another one to get there? That is what we are building for."His efforts in helping the East Midlands club narrowly avoid relegation back to League One last season saw the veteran rewarded with a new two-year deal that will keep him at Pride Park beyond his 38th if that new contract - which is also set up to help him gain his coaching qualifications - has allowed him to dare to dream again of reaching the Premier League with Derby, Forsyth replied: "Of course, you have to. "That is what everyone plays football for, to achieve their dreams and that is one thing that is still missing for me. "So to be able to do that would be the ultimate thing on the top of everything at the end of my career, so we will see what happens." 'Fozzy never going to let you down' The financial issues of the past - Forsyth admits there were times when the players "didn't know what was going on" during the 282 days the club spent in administration - means the Rams' Premier League aspirations are not bankrolled in the same record-breaking and near ruinous years of measured spending by owner David Clowes - the property developer that took the club out of administration and funded their return to the Championship - has allowed head coach John Eustace to spend millions of pounds to bolster his side after they narrowly beat the drop last while cash has been splashed on the likes of United States striker Patrick Agyemang, whose fee could rise to £7.3m, Eustace made sure one of the first bits of business done this summer was keeping Derby's oldest player on the books for a few more long has Forsyth been at the club that Eustace played the final game of his career alongside the defender with County a decade when Eustace returned as a head coach in February, he became the 11th full-time boss that Forsyth has worked under at Pride Park since first arriving on loan from Watford in 2013."Fozzy is a bit of a Derby County legend," Eustace told BBC East Midlands Today."He is a top professional and top performer still. He is never going to let you down."For Eustace, Forsyth delivered in a way that transformed the trajectory of Derby's entire had lost all of Eustace's first three matches in charge and failed to score a single Forsyth changed all that with the first goal of the Eustace era, which set the Rams up for a 2-1 victory against a promotion-chasing Blackburn Rovers that Eustace had left weeks earlier to take charge of relegation-threatened Derby."For everyone in the stadium and on pitch, it was just a relief to get that first goal and that monkey off our back after not scoring for a few games," Forsyth recalled."And that sort of kick-started us and got us on the run that ultimately kept us up."Before that, Forsyth had struggled to hold down a starting spot. After it, he played every minute of the 10 remaining matches, and crucially set up a goal in their 2-2 draw with Portsmouth and the winner against Hull City as the Rams narrowly avoided the drop. "It was a bit close for comfort for us and it wasn't enjoyable at times," he said of their escape from relegation."It was tough and it was difficult, but everyone that was here has built that spirit from seeing it through and getting over the line in the end. And now it's about building upwards."
North Wales Chronicle
16 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Johnston has plenty to look forward to with Ancient Egypt
Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing operation went to 1,100,000 guineas for the son of Frankel out of Atone, who is a sister to Midday. Ridden by Rowan Scott, he needed all of the extended seven-furlong trip to get on top but was doing his best work in the closing stages and Johnston – who won the same race 12 months ago with his dual Derby-placed and now St Leger-bound colt Lazy Griff – is keen to get him out again this season. 'He's come out of the race good, I was relieved to get his head in front on debut,' said the Middleham handler. 'He horse we've always liked. He's a big boy. He's a horse for next year. I'm not sure what we'll do with him now, I'm sure we'll see him again at least once more this year, quite how quickly we step up in class, we'll have to have a think about, but he's a he's a smart horse. 'I love the way he was only just getting half the idea in the last furlong when he went and put it to bed. Rowan took about half an hour to pull him up and come back in again so he'll take a big step forward from that. We think he's a smart horse. 'It was the same race that Lazy Griff won. I'm not going to stand here and say that I've been planning that for months, but after he worked last week I thought it was the entry, so let's hope he ends up in the same sort of echelons as him.'
Leader Live
20 hours ago
- Leader Live
Johnston has plenty to look forward to with Ancient Egypt
Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing operation went to 1,100,000 guineas for the son of Frankel out of Atone, who is a sister to Midday. Ridden by Rowan Scott, he needed all of the extended seven-furlong trip to get on top but was doing his best work in the closing stages and Johnston – who won the same race 12 months ago with his dual Derby-placed and now St Leger-bound colt Lazy Griff – is keen to get him out again this season. 'He's come out of the race good, I was relieved to get his head in front on debut,' said the Middleham handler. 'He horse we've always liked. He's a big boy. He's a horse for next year. I'm not sure what we'll do with him now, I'm sure we'll see him again at least once more this year, quite how quickly we step up in class, we'll have to have a think about, but he's a he's a smart horse. 'I love the way he was only just getting half the idea in the last furlong when he went and put it to bed. Rowan took about half an hour to pull him up and come back in again so he'll take a big step forward from that. We think he's a smart horse. 'It was the same race that Lazy Griff won. I'm not going to stand here and say that I've been planning that for months, but after he worked last week I thought it was the entry, so let's hope he ends up in the same sort of echelons as him.'
