Patience pays off as Pour Me A Double hits the right spot

WILLIE MURPHY took his tally of winners for the season to five when his wife, Moira McElligott, guided Pour Me A Double to complete a Ballycrystal double for the stable

The seven-year-old, owned by th e Da shin g Da mes Sy ndic at e, ha d faile d to complete on his first three starts across a two-and-a-half year period, but the patient approach by connections was finally rewarded

After finishing third at Tattersalls and Tinahely the Pour Moi gelding Pour Me A Double finally got his head in front, accounting for the four-time placed Ahaknowyerself by two and a half lengths

Victory came in one of the longest-named races of the season so far : the Moses Coffey, L & M Motors, Jason Kelly Specialist Cars, Jason Farrell Auto Body Repairs and Ronan Furlong Tyre World older geldings’ maiden.

“He promised to be a very good horse a couple of years ago and I don’t know why things went wrong,” Murphy said.

“He improved from Tinahely and just might improve again The syndicate is made up of my wife, my sister and three of their friends and this is their first horse.”

Pa King was in the saddle as Miss Drussell got Murphy’s Ballycurragh stables on the scoreboard for the day in the Baltimore Stables and Ballyboy Stables older mares’ maiden.

The Flemensfirth mare had failed to find a buyer when offered at last month’s ThoroughBid Christmas sale having finished second at Quakerstown in early December

She entered the Ballycrystal race needing to bounce back from a disappointing effort at Tattersalls on the final day of the autumn term and proved that was a blip by returning 20 lengths clear of Mini Fortune, the only other one of the six starters to complete the course in deteriorating conditions

Star performance

Wingmen proved in a league of his own when pulling clear approaching the home straight and looks a smart sort

“We’ll sell her if we can; she would be a lovely mare for so me bod y in Eng la nd ,” Murphy said. “If we don’t sell we may find a winners’ race.”

Great Pepper justified his short price for the ORHE O’Reilly Hyland Real Estate, Blockword Contractors & PR Firewood confined maiden.

Donnchadh Doyle’s Frenchbred Great Pretender gelding had been picked out by his locally based handler for €28,000 as a yearling in the Arqana sales ring.

A rare Monbeg Syndicateowned runner for Doyle’s stable not to hit the frame this season when making his debut in a four-year-old maiden at Lisronagh in November, the drop into confined maiden grade produced a significantly improved performance as he came home four lengths too good for Flash Du Pistolet.

“He actually didn’t run too badly the first day at Lisronagh. It was very tacky that day and he could have jumped the last and finished fourth,” Doyle said. “He’ll contest a few winners’ races now and we’ll see where we head from there.”

Great Pepper was one of two winners for Rob James, who had earlier teamed up with Gordon Elliott to land the Tattersalls NH, Casey Enterpr is es and Ga in Eq ui ne Nu tr ition fiv e-y ear -old ge ldin gs ’ ma iden wi th Wingmen

Bought for €88,000 by Mags O’Toole at the 2021 Derby sale, the Cathal Ennis-bred son of Kayf Tara was sporting the silks of the Crocodile Pockets Syndicate, colours also carried by the subsequent Grade 1 winner Ginto when he made a 12-length winning debut for

Elliott at Tattersalls in 2020.

Wingmen enjoyed a similarly successful start to his career by mat chin g th at wi nnin g di stance whe n easi ly acco un tin g for fello w newcomer Backtonormal.

“T hat wa s grea t, we’re delighted with that,” Simon McGonagle, Elliott’s head lad, said. “He was doing everything right at home I’d imagine the sales now would be the plan.”

Denis Murphy must have arrived at the Wexford venue with high hopes of a profitable afternoon having landed a hat-trick at the corresponding fixture in 2019, but it proved to be a frustrating day for the Ballyboy stables operator

By the fixture’s end he had come away with three seconds, including one by the hat-trickseeking Garcon Dargent in the Screws & More Ltd, Gahans Bar and Barlou Woodcraft winnersof-two.

The six-year-old had beaten Old Style Humor at Tinahely a fortnight earlier and confirmed the form with that rival once again. However, the pair had to settle for second and third to Gray Rock

A suspension had prevented James Kenny from riding his father Liam’s seven-year-old to victory at Borris House in December but the 24-year-old Gorey rider was back in the saddle for a welcome first victory of the season as Gray Rock came home three-quarters of a length clear of Garcon Dargent.

“Gray Rock has been unlucky as we always happened on one,” Liam Kenny said. “He’s for sale, but if we don’t sell we’ll continue on.”

Cor ma c Doyle ha d not saddled a runner since Tralee in late May, but marked his return by landing the Ballycrystal Stables five-year-old ma re s’ ma iden wi th Von Hallers

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Doyle’s stable’s regular rider Jack Hendrick has developed a successful partnership with the Denis Murphy team in recent

Miss Drussell and Pa King land the mares’ maiden to initiate a double for handler Willie Murphy (top); Pour Me A Double and Murphy’s wife Moira McElligott complete the job in the geldings’ maiden (right); Gray Rock and James Kenny (red and black check) hold off Garcon Dargent in the winners-of-two (far right) weeks, but he was back in Doyle’s black and green silks on Von Hallers to inflict this narrow defeat on Murphy’s Caught A Vibe

Just a head separated the pa ir at the line wi th the winning mare, a daughter of Presenting who had failed to finish at Monksgrange on her debut last season, now set to be offered at the Tattersalls Cheltenham sale on Saturday.

“She ran at Monksgrange last year but Rob James was never happy and she scoped wrong afterwards,” Doyle said. “We let her off and she is twice the mare since she came back in.”