John O'Donoghue and his wife Jodi with Cailin Cliste© Photo Healy Racing
John O'Donoghue, who has taken over at the famous Currabeg stables from John Oxx, savoured his first winner in the training ranks when Cailin Cliste stormed home in the concluding sprint handicap.
Some 24 runners went to post for this 47-65 handicap over six furlongs and Cailin Cliste made eye-catching headway in the final quarter of a mile.
She burst through in the final furlong and hit the front in the final 100 yards. The Bated Breath filly wasn't for stopping as she went on by three parts of a length at 25/1. Chris Hayes did the steering and brought up a 337/1 double as also scored on Joyous Moment (12/1) in race three.
“That's great and it's very nice to do it on the Curragh, to get that box ticked,” said O'Donoghue.
“The owners are from all over, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Cork. It's a syndicate that we had in England, that Jodi and I ran in England.
“When we knew we were coming home we started to get some home interest. She was in training here last year and she moved to us for this campaign.
“It was always something that we wanted to do, was to train in Ireland. I spent the last six years in England, the latter part with Roger Varian.
“The opportunity to move into Currabeg came up and we took it with both hands.
“We don't have a whole pile of older horses, it would be dominated by two-year-olds so we are looking forward to the summer.
“We've been blown away by the support that has come. We've got a very high quality of two-year-old so hopefully we can compete here in Ireland.
“John (Oxx) is incredible and he was the first man to congratulate me. His advice is incredible and to have him looking over your shoulder is a huge plus.
“We've got a couple of nice two-year-olds so we'll try and get them to win and see what they can do.
“I'm 29 and we've got 23 in training at the minute, with a couple more to come in.
“We bought one or two older horses to try and get the box ticked, knowing that we were going to be very reliant on two-year-olds.”
The Stewards requested a report from W.M. Lordon, rider of Cactus Tree who fell on the flat in this race. The rider reported that his mount clipped a heel and fell. He further added that there appeared to be little movement from any rider prior to the fall. Having considered the report and viewed a recording of the incident, the Stewards were satisfied that no further action was warranted.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
