Fran Berry pushes out Akram to win© Photo Healy Racing
The well backed (6/1 into 4/1 favourite) 10yo Akram showed his younger rivals how it's done as he took the Children Under 18 Are Free Handicap for his trainer Niall Madden with Fran Berry in the saddle.
Having settled in mid-division early on he went fifth two furlongs out. He made headway to lead a furlong from home and he kept on well to draw clear inside the final furlong, scoring by four and a half lengths at the line. Curl Cat finished second for the father and son team of Thomas and Rory Cleary at 5/1 while the gamble of the race, All About Alfie (opened 12/1 this morning, 15/2 on track and was returned at 9/2) was a further half a length back in third under Ronan Whelan for Tom Foley.
Frank Berry, racing manager to winning owner JP McManus, said afterwards: "He came on a bit from his run last time and after a year off.
"At his age it’s nice to be winning. We’ll find another similar race like that and he likes a good track."
The winning son of Night Shift was recording his fifth career victory this afternoon, having won twice for John Oxx as a 3yo back in 2005 and twice for Jonjo O’Neill over hurdles in 2008 and 2009. After the race Joseph O'Brien reported to the Stewards that his mount First Friday never travelled. However he was found to be post race normal when examined by the vet.
(On-course reporting by Michael Graham)
