Appeal emerges as cosy winner Instant Appeal got on top in the closing stages as they emerged from a thick fog in the Irishinjuredjockeys.com Handicap at Dundalk. The field were out of view for most of the mile contest as visibility worsened at the course. Vlhova and Instant Appeal were fighting it out as they came into view just inside the final furlong and it was the Stephen Thorne-trained gelding who asserted close home, for Shane Foley, to score by three-parts-of-a-length. The 11/10 favourite had been backed from 11/4 this morning. He had been third here last month on his first outing for Thorne, having been with Jessica Harrington previously. Thorne said:- "He was just ready to start the last day. David Egan was over, and he rode a winner for me on Champions Weekend, so I was keen to get him on a couple. He got a lovely feel off him the last day. "Just the race didn't pan out the way it suited the last night. He got to the front probably two (furlongs) out, a couple in front of him had collapsed, and he's a horse to kind of land there. "We were keen to just ride him with plenty of confidence today and Shane obviously knows the horse well. He came highly recommended from him. "Lucky enough, we picked him up in the online sale - Alpha Racing were moving him on. Just a horse that made a lot of sense to us and hopefully give the shareholders a lot of fun for the winter months. "Keen to use Shane on him because I think he is probably a tricky-enough horse. He's only had the one win, but had been running well all year in defeat. I was keen to get him back on board because he knows the horse very well. "Absolutely (get a stint over the winter series) - now that he is probably out of the 80 bracket, there's probably only a handful of races for him. The 0-90s and 0-100s are sparing, but I don't like running them too often anyway. He'll have one run before Christmas." (Quotes by Michael Graham)
