Fantastic week for Rathowen trainer Adrian Murray
Racehorse trainer Adrian Murray was the toast of Fairyhouse – and his native Rathowen – when he had a phenomenal 125/1 winner last week.
Punters hardly knew where to look as the Murray-trained Kodi Bear won the Kilminfoyle House Stud Maiden on Wednesday evening.
In the colours of owner John Madigan, the twice-raced two-year-old made all the running under Seamie Heffernan and battled well when challenged by the Ken Condon-trained 6/1 chance Paulliac deep inside the final furlong to score by a neck.
Said Adrian after the race: “It’s not a surprise. The first day he ran very well, made the running, but he burned up a lot of energy before the race and didn’t finish it out. We were wondering then if maybe he didn’t get the trip so the next day we ran him, we dropped him out but he didn’t settle at all and didn’t get home. It worked out grand this evening. We were disappointed up to now with him but thankfully he’s now shown everyone what he really is.”
Murray also won the first of the handicap hurdles at Kilbeggan on Friday evening where the Denis O'Regan-ridden Sargent Lightfoot scored a cosy success. The 11/1 chance led after the second last hurdle and saw off the challenge of 1/2 favourite Petrol Head to score by three and a quarter lengths. The Rathowen trainer was successful again at Navan the following afternoon where Kodi Red took the median sires maiden under Billy Lee. The 5/2 chance made most of the running to win by two and three-parts of a length from the Jessica Harrington-trained Wild Rover.
Meanwhile, Mullingar trainer Ciaran Murphy denied Gordon Elliott an opening race treble at Sligo on Sunday where Innisfree Beauty won the mares’ novice handicap hurdle under Mark McDonagh. Elliott won the opening two races with As Tears Go By and Daisy Dufresne but his Hophornbeam lost out to Murphy’s gutsy six-year-old which battled to a half-length victory at odds of 10/1 in the third race of the day. The runner-up was having her third start for Elliott was trained by Murphy last year.
The next meeting at Kilbeggan is this Friday, July 15 (first race 5.30pm).