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Stellar Moment just prevails under Whelan

Stellar Moment and Ronan Whelan (pink cap) pip Porters Corner by a noseStellar Moment and Ronan Whelan (pink cap) pip Porters Corner by a nose
© Healy Racing Photos

The fillies' maiden over a mile and a half at Galway produced a tremendous finish as Stellar Moment #160;(5/1) just edged out Porters Corner by the minimum margin of victory.

It was the latter who hit the front off the home turn with Billy Lee seeking a treble on the evening, but Ronan Whelan covered the move on Christopher McHale's homebred daughter of Ulyssess who is trained by John O'Donoghue.

Whelan' s mount edged ahead inside the final furlong, but Porters Corner rallied to make it a close-run thing at the line. 

"She did that well," reported Whelan, getting on the board for the week at Ballybrit.

"The last day (second at Limerick), ideally I wanted to get a lead on her, but we had to do all the donkey work. Today, it set up beautifully. I got a lovely tow into it and followed the one I wanted to beat. 

"She travelled around there with a bit of class. When she gets there she only just does enough, so hopefully there's a bit more to come. When they said it was a nose, I was a bit surprised. I thought I won a head."

Additional reporting by John O'Riordan

1st
5/1
Tote €6.00 €1.70
2nd
nose
3/1
€1.50
3rd
3.5L
100/1
€21.20
4th
2.25L
13/8Fav
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.