Burns finds Highway to winners' enclosure Darkdeserthighway recorded her fourth victory at Dundalk when coming with a powerful surge down the middle to land the apprentice handicap under Nicola Burns. The Michael O’Callaghan-trained mare had been fifth on her last outing at Gowran Park and went to post a 15/2 shot on her return to the all-weather. Burns held her mount up towards the rear early on before asking her for an effort turning for home. The seven-year-old hit the front going to the furlong pole. She soon drifted to her right but was straightened up late on to hold the challenge of Venetian by half-a-length in the seven furlong contest. Her previous wins at the track had come over a mile. O'Callaghan said: "It (Gowran Park run) just showed that she has been coming back into form. This kind of tends to be her time of the year. She has a good record here and she likes the surface. "Sometimes she just needs the race to pan out for her. It panned out well today and Nicola gave her a lovely ride around the paint. The 4lb off didn't do any harm. "She won well, so happy with her. She has her level. "She is in again next week over a mile which I thought is generally her best trip. Tonight, over the sharper seven, they just went hard enough that she got a clear run down the straight and it allowed her to run them down." (Quotes by Michael Graham)
