Heliac and Colin Keane© Photo Healy Racing
Heliac (8/11 to 9/10 favourite) rounded off the evening with a nice success in the concluding Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Fillies Maiden at Cork.
Off a 214 day break on her third start Heliac made all under Colin Keane, and Ger Lyons' charge was pressed three furlongs out.
Ridden two furlongs out the Khalid Abdullah Champs Elysees filly kept on well inside the final furlong to cosily defeat Sweet Dime (2/1 into 13/8) by a length and three parts.
"Cork is good to us. We’re delighted with that. The fillies are just coming to themselves now. Colin said she was green as grass - she’ll come on a tonne for that. Her ears were pricked from the word go," said Lyons' brother Shane.
"She had to do it the hard way because he didn’t want it to be a dawdle. He let her use her stride and he knew she’d go on the ground. It was like a piece of work to her today, and the main thing is that she got a bracket — for her breeding and everything, it’s most important.
"But I think she’ll improve for that and for a step up in trip. Colin said she’s get a mile and a half no problem. It opens up a lot of doors, but we’ll see what mark the handicapper gives her too.
“We get a thrill out of getting winners in those colours because they were our favourite colours when we were kids, and they’re lovely people to work with.”
At the request of the Stewards, J.A. Heffernan, rider of Sandstorm Annie trained by Shane Nolan, reported to the Stewards' Secretaries that his mount ran way too free for most of the race but she was unable to quicken when the chance presented.
(TW & EM)
