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Michael Graham

Michael Graham

Three, two and now one for Al Murqab

Sun 3rd Nov 2013, 16:02

Al Murqab, green and orange, leads them homeAl Murqab, green and orange, leads them home
© Photo Healy Racing

Al Murqab came with a sustained challenge in the final furlong of the Leopardstown Christmas Festival 2013 Maiden to win going away by a length and a quarter.

Gary Carroll stoked his charge up and the pair moved past Shes No Joke and Newberry Hill who had to settle for second and third respectively at 8/1 and 11/1.

The winner took plenty of supporters along being backed from 11/4 to 2/1 in the betting market for this nine-furlong contest. He was improving on opening efforts of third and second places.

Successful handler Andrew Oliver said: “That was great. The form was there, he had two good runs to his name. He handled the ground, Gary was very impressed with him and he will be a nice horse for next year. That is Mubarak Al Naemi’s first winner in Ireland, and he has been very good to support me.” Laviniad the 7/4 favourite, was fifth under Kevin Manning for Jim Bolger.

Additional reporting by Donal Murphy

1st
2/1
Tote €3.30 €1.50
2nd
1.25L
8/1
€2.20
3rd
1.25L
11/1
€3.90
4th
3.5L
50/1
bf
0.5L
7/4Fav
About Michael Graham
Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.