Dublin footballer Ciarán Kilkenny ‘back smiling' after winner at Tipperary
Kilkenny's Dubs went down by 0-23 to 0-16 against Tyrone at Croke Park — meaning the eight-time All-Ireland winner's inter-county summer finishes early.
Castleknock native Kilkenny is also a big horseracing fan and on Wednesday night at Tipperary racecourse a horse he owns in partnership with friends, Onemoredance, won for the second time in four months.
Ironically trained by a Meathman in Johnny Murtagh, the three-year-old was well backed from 11/2 into the 10/3 favourite and won from Wonderfulwonderful in the @Tipperaryraces Handicap.
Kilkenny and the Whyte Hickey Rafter Kilkenny Syndicate took home the first prize of €6,900 taking the horse's career earnings to over €16,000.
The Dublin forward was delighted having missed the fillies' first win, also at Tipperary, in April as it came on the same day Dublin were playing Meath in Portlaoise.
She was then disappointingly beaten into fourth when tried over a mile-and-a-half at Roscommon but bounced back to form with a runner-up placing at Gowran in the middle of last month.
"It's great to have the owner (Dublin footballer Ciarán Kilkenny) here with a smile on his face after last weekend," said trainer Murtagh, who's daughters play Ladies football for Kildare.
"She is much easier to manage now - she was tricky at the start of the year. I think she's just settled into the system now and likes being out in the paddock after she rides out.
"She likes the track and has now won twice here.
Kilkenny's passion for racing has seen him travel to many meetings and indeed he counts top jockey Keith Donoghue among his friends, and is a regular racegoer.
He has enjoyed a fine season with Dublin despite their loss to Tyrone and will be now hoping he can spend more time on the racecourse, with Onemoredance a likely contender for the Galway races later this month.
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