Ballerina dances to bumper success Thelittleballerina showed a smart turn of foot to lead over the road and land the bumper at Clonmel for Ian Donoghue. Joey Dunne’s mount swept to the front passing the two furlong pole and despite running around a touch over a furlong from home she proved much too strong for her rivals. The Capri mare stayed on strongly in the closing stages to post an eight-length win over long-time leader Myluckymaker, who stayed on again in the final furlong despite hanging left. 15/2 shot Thelittleballerina was building off a promising debut run at Down Royal, when third to Lizzie Twigg. "Whe is a lovely mare who was plenty green, ran keen and got bumped around at Down Royal, so we were confident coming here as her work had been good. She is a nice mare and I'd say she has a bright future,” said Donoghue. "The penny is just dropping with her and she will improve with racing. "Her owner/breeder (James Dunne) is no relation of Joey (Dunne, jockey) and from Rathcoole. This is our second horse for him, the first didn't work out and he could sell this mare." (Quotes by Tom Weekes)
