Image © Healy Racing
There was plenty of drama in the Millenium Survey mares’ point-to-point bumper with confusion arising as to whether up to eight of the 11 starters could be disqualified, with the field going opposite sides of plastic railing.
There was plenty of drama in the Millenium Survey mares’ point-to-point bumper with confusion arising as to whether up to eight of the 11 starters could be disqualified, with the field going opposite sides of plastic railing.
A plastic marker was positioned close to the starting point, with the field setting off to go around it, before Josh Williamson aboard A New Deck spotted the error and was able to get his mount, and the John Gleeson-ridden Chosen Comrade to go the correct side of the marker at the last minute, with Rob James following them aboard October Hill.
They were the only three runners of the 11 starts to pass on the inside of the marker, with the remaining eight runners racing to the outside of it.
It was one of that trio, Chosen Comrade, who came home in front, as the four-year-old daughter of Walk In The Park, who had won a mares’ maiden at Borris House for Gary Murphy in March, made a winning rules debut having joined Peter Fahey’s Monasterevin stable.
She returned two and a quarter lengths clear of the Lingstown maidein winner Katie’s Melody, whilst last month’s Oldcastle maiden winner Noble Name outran her 33/1 starting price to finish third.
No steward’s enquiry was called with Kevin O’Ryan on Racing TV subsequently reporting the official line under Regulation nine which allows runners to go either side of a plastic marker once there is no birch in it.
“She is a nice filly and when we were looking to buy new horses, Paul jumped onboard, he picked out this one himself, he looked through the point-to-points, she was the fastest winner on the day and he did a lot of research on it,” Fahey said.
“We went down and we bought her privately, and it worked out great. She won her point-to-point well, she is not the biggest in the world, she is a good 16hh1, but she is a really nice filly to look forward to.”
The plastic marker was removed by the time the geldings equivalent was run 30 minutes later, and it was a race which saw Josh Williamson and Robert Tyner, a duo who had won the George Mernagh Memorial together, successfully combine once again, this time with Stanners Glen.
The winner of an older geldings’ maiden at Quakerstown on Easter Sunday, the six-year-old kicked clear in the home straight to defeat the staying-on Only For Our Man, with the Ballyragget fourth Minella Mania back in third.
