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Whirling Dervish comes good over hurdles at 20/1

Whirling Dervish and Keith Donoghue clear the last for an easy winWhirling Dervish and Keith Donoghue clear the last for an easy win
© Photo Healy Racing

Whirling Dervish finally started to pay back on some of the six figure sum he was purchased for last autumn when recording a facile win at odds of 20/1 in the Athlone Maiden Hurdle at Kilbeggan.

The Camelot gelding won twice on the Flat for Jessica Harrington to reach a rating of 100 but, having been bought for 120,000 at the Newmarket Horses In Training Sale last October, was generally disappointing since sent hurdling by current connections.

The Gavin Cromwell-trained five-year-old was reappearing here after a break of over four months and made good headway to head the front-running favourite Santana Plessis before the last.

The 20/1 chance cruised home under Keith Donoghue to beat the ‘jolly’ by an easy six and a half lengths, with Jack Hackett a further two and three quarter lengths back in third.

Cromwell said, “He was a good Flat horse but we’ve had a lot of trouble with back problems and his jumping hasn’t been great.

“He jumped better today and it’s nice to win a race with him but clearly he was bought hoping he’d be a lot better than he is.

“He’ll go handicapping over the summer and we’ll see where it brings us.”

1st
20/1
Tote €25.30 €4.20
2nd
6.5L
11/10Fav
€1.02
3rd
2.75L
5/2
€1.20
4th
34L
33/1
About Alan Magee
Alan has worked in the racing industry for well over 30 years including with the Sporting Life, Turform and Irish Racing Services. He took up his current role as Irish Racing Team Leader with the Press Association in 2013. He has a keen interest in most sports and plays golf.