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Donal Murphy

Donal Murphy

Magical gets back on track in Curragh feature

Sun 22nd Jul 2018, 16:00

Magical is pushed out by Ryan MooreMagical is pushed out by Ryan Moore
© Photo Healy Racing

Magical justified 5/4 favouritism in the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes, making all under Ryan Moore for Aidan O'Brien.

Successful last August in the Debutante Stakes, the daughter of Galileo then went down by a short head when tried at the highest level in the Moyglare.

She could only manage fourth on her next two starts, again finishing in that position on her return to action at ParisLongchamp in April.

Having met with a 'little setback' in training since, she was still expected to deliver this afternoon, and went off the clear 5/4 favourite, having opened at 11/8 on-course.

Sent straight to the front by Moore, the bay victor was nudged along from over a furlong out, keeping on well inside the final furlong to come home two and three parts of a length to the good. I'm So Fancy (7/2) finished second under Colm O'Donoghue for Jessica Harrington, while Broadway was two lengths back in third. September was sent off the 3/1 second favourite and she finished a disappointing last under Seamie Heffernan.

"It was nice to get one for the weekend," said O'Brien.

"We had her ready to run in the Oaks (at Epsom), it was the plan to run her, but she just knocked the inside of her joint and then it just took a long time for the swelling to go down and the soreness to go out so she got held up.

"We had her in the Oaks yesterday but we were afraid to run her as we were afraid she wasn't fit enough.

"This was a nice start back for her and hopefully she's okay, she was leaning left a little bit all the way in the straight. Hopefully she'll be okay after it.

"She's a lovely filly, how far she'll stay I'm not sure. We'll see how she is but we could have a look at the Yorkshire Oaks with her.

"Talking to Ryan there he thought she maybe wasn't ready to step up to a mile-and-a-half yet.

"The whole rest of the season is in front of her if she's okay.

"Obviously we were babying September along to try and get her back after her setback in the spring.

"The plan was to drop in and Seamus was always going to look after her if she got tired. There should be an awful lot of improvement in her."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson

About Donal Murphy
Donal graduated from Maynooth University in 2010 with a BBS in Equine Business and since attained a diploma in Sports Journalism from Dublin Business School. He holds a variety of roles in the horse racing industry, reporting for the Press Association and p2p.ie, while also working for SIS and the Tote. From Wexford, he is a keen runner and has completed over 100 parkruns at various locations around the country.