Lady Clitico (noseband) stays on best in the closing stages to beat Unrequited © Photo Healy Racing
First time cheekpieces worked a treat on Lady Clitico as she finally got off the mark on her tenth career start in the Woods Financial Services Maiden.
The Charlie Swan trained three-year-old daughter of Bushranger was place five times before this evening and she went down by just a neck on her penultimate start at Tramore.
She finished third in a handicap on her last outing at the Curragh and back in maiden company today she was sent off at 10/1 chance (opened on-course at 12's).
Having tracked the leaders throughout she came under pressure two furlongs from home, keeping on best inside the final furlong going on to score by three parts of a length at the line.
A furlong out it looked as if Colin Keane and Ger Lyons were set to complete a treble with Unrequited (6/4fav) but he couldn’t hold off the winner and had to settle for second.
Newcomer Lucent Dream ran a fine race to finish a further two and a quarter lengths back in third under Gary Carroll for John McConnell after being backed from 12/1 in the morning into his opening show on-course of 11/4, drifting out to 4/1 at the off.
Chris Hayes said of the Philip Reynolds owned winner: "She is a model of consistency. It was my first time riding her at the Curragh.
"I thought the cheekpieces might help especially around here as I needed her to travel.
"Charlie said to keep it simple. When I saw the Ger Lyons horse with Colin Keane I thought not again, but my one put her head down and battled well."
Additional reporting by Michael Graham
