Cheltenham-conquering Keane scores for Team O’Callaghan

Cheltenham festival-winner and six-time champion jockey Colin Keane scored on his first ride of the new Flat season today, landing the Curragh’s Nua CLaD Hub Irish EBF Maiden on Breaking Dawn (2/1f).

Keane famously registered a rare Flat-jockey’s success at Cheltenham on The Mourne Rambler in the festival’s bumper race last Wednesday and, today, produced prominent-racing Breaking Dawn to lead over a furlong out before beating Keogie by 2.5 lengths.

Winning trainer Michael O’Callaghan commented “it’s nice to get the first runner of the new season on the board and he’s a horse we liked last year, but was just a bit weak and immature.

“Colin rode him on all his starts last year and said he felt a much stronger horse today. He’s said that he ground it out and could go back up to seven furlongs after today.”

He added "that is a good gauge for where the horses are at and credit to the team. They’ve done a great job over the winter - it’s been a long winter so it’s nice to get this first one.

“We’ll see what the handicapper says now and he could possibly run in the Madrid (Handicap) if he’s okay. He’s fresh and well but we’ll see if he comes out of it okay or whether it can leave a mark.”

Quotes from Gary Carson