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Mark Nunan

Mark Nunan

Tooreen Angel gets her head in front

Mon 1st Feb 2021, 15:22

Tooreen Angel and Andrew Slattery (far side) win by a headTooreen Angel and Andrew Slattery (far side) win by a head
© Photo Healy Racing

Never out of the first three in her four previous visits to Dundalk, the 6/4 favourite Tooreen Angel gained a deserved victory in the opening Irishinjuredjockeys.com Maiden.

Despite being posted fairly wide throughout, the Battle Of Marengo filly came from mid-division and got into contention halfway down the home straight.

She hit the front entering the final furlong and just held the challenge of Melliferous (15/2) by a head, with Battle Of Benburb (11/2) half a length further back in third.

Trained by Fozzy Stack, the winner is a half-sister to five winners and was getting off the mark at the eighth time of asking.

“She’s a funny little woman," said winning rider Andrew Slattery.

"She takes a bit of cajoling along but she deserved that as she’s so consistent. She loves the surface.

“Everytime she’s ran she’s been caught wide but today they went a gallop and it suited. She doesn’t mind being wide in the straight as she can get intimidated easily. She’s learning all the time.

“She wears a hood and can get a bit worked up.”

“Ideally I think she’s better over a mile and a half if they go a gallop. She needs them to go a gallop for her to settle and luckily enough today we went nice and even and she settled well.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee

About Mark Nunan
Mark has followed racing since he was a teenager and worked for many years as a broadcaster with the Irish version of Racecall. He joined the Press Association in 2019 and is also a contributor to the Racing Post. A native of Kildare, he now lives in Sligo.