24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Murtagh maintains fine start to season with Tipperary double
Johnny Murtagh has started the season with his team in great form and the Curragh trainer added two more, both ridden by Ben Coen, to his tally on Thursday at Tipperary.
Onemoredance sealed the first leg by running out a comfortable winner of the Tipperary Handicap. Drawn quite wide, Coen ensured his mount was well away and in the box seat from an early stage as The Black Stuff set the fractions. The winner, a 2-1 chance, moved up early in the straight and soon had matters in hand.
The completion of the 20-1 double had to wait until the final race, and again it was a well-judged ride by Coen, this time aboard Cheeky Wink. Sitting just off the pace, he produced his filly to challenge early in the straight, and she quickened up nicely in the conditions to win in great style.
'She had a lovely draw, and I was hoping that going a mile and a half would bring out another bit of improvement,' said Murtagh. 'I thought she was a miler or a mile and one horse, but she strengthened up nicely over the winter and the mile and a half now, in that ground, is ideal.'
Black-type is the focus for the Barnane Stud and Owen Heffer-owned mare. 'She's a home-bred and we thought a bit about her last year, and hopefully she'll get there."
Joyful Tidings was a strong market mover in the opening race, the Irish EBF Median Sires Series Maiden, and the Gavin Cromwell-trained and Dunphy Family Syndicate-owned juvenile made a good impression despite patent signs of greenness.
Keen through the early stages, he looked to be in trouble with a couple of furlongs to go, but the son of top-class sprinter A'Ali responded well to Gary Carroll's encouragement to see off Arugam Bay, who ran a big race on the far side of the track.
It was a delayed debut for the promising sort as he had been an intended runner at the Curragh but had to be withdrawn after an incident going to the start.
'I passed Seamie (Heffernan) but he then bolted and went by me,' explained Carroll. 'Both horses got a fright and got runs on us, that's all.'
Of this race, he added: 'He's a strong-travelling horse and there was no real pace on my side, but he is very straightforward, so I did my own thing. It took a while to get organised between the two and the one, but I was strong through the line.
'He is a big strong horse so we weren't too afraid about the slower ground, but he will appreciate nicer ground. He is a nice horse going forward.
'I think Gavin has a nice bunch of two-year-olds, and this is our first runner, so it is nice to get a line on them.'
Bravais, who had good form in France in 2023, stepped up considerably on his stable debut when taking the Racing Again At Tipperary On May 8 Race for Ger Lyons, Colin Keane and owners Juddmonte. Hurricane Ivor won the battle for early supremacy and looked in charge for much of the trip, but Bravais, who was always his nearest pursuer, dug in deep to collar him close home.
Shane Lyons said: 'Well, we're only finding out about him ourselves, but it's great that the family of Juddmonte give us these horses. It's a pleasure to train them.
'It's going to be a nice fun horse for us, and Colin says that he appreciated that ground — he wouldn't want too much firm in it. Trip-wise, seven furlongs to a mile is ideal for him and he could be a right horse to come back here for the races that we farmed with the likes of Psychedelic Funk.'
Andy Slattery's team is in great form and Bobbi Rose gave the Tipperary yard a third winner since Sunday when running away with the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden. The Havana Grey filly took over from favourite Passing Phase inside the quarter pole and pulled away in good style to score under 7lb claimer Sam Coen, a cousin of Ben, and a promising young rider in his own right.
A gamble went astray in the Follow @tipperaryraces Handicap as Raising The Flag, backed from double-figure odds in the morning to 11-8 at the off, trailed the field of six runners. Victory went to the Denis Hogan-trained Sarahmae, a Magna Grecia filly who was delivered late by Joey Sheridan to win readily.
The Gordon Elliott-trained Combs made a winning return to action in the Tipperary Town Maiden. Sent off in front by Chris Hayes, the three-year-old saw off a late challenge by market leader Treasure Planet and looks just the type to improve with an even greater demand on stamina.
