Heffernan double as Delahunty back in winners' enclosure Seamie Heffernan rounded off proceedings at Dundalk today with a double, giving Voice Of Reason a decisive ride to land the finale. The Churchill gelding was sent for home entering the straight in the mile-and-a-half contest and kept on well in the closing stages to post a three-parts-of-a-length win over 7/2 favourite Lady Kai. The 8/1 winner was picked up out of a claiming hurdle by William Delahunty back in May and was giving the Kilkenny trainer his first winner since October 2013, when Billybuster won over hurdles in Wexford. Delahunty said: "I haven't had too many runners now, in fairness! "My son Michael got him in a claiming hurdle in Clonmel during the summer. "We bought him as a hurdler and we had him at home a few days and we said this isn't a hurdler, this is a Flat horse. "He had a good run here and then on his last run he kind of got stopped, he didn't get a clear run and he's a lad you have to keep him going once you get him going. "Seamie Heffernan, what can I say? "I'm farming at home and we have four (horses) in at the moment. We only took out the Flat licence since we got this horse. "We are bitten by the bug now on the Flat! We'll keep him going." Owner Michael Delahunty added: "We had been following him. We went to Tramore to a claiming hurdle beforehand and we scouted him out. When we were going to Clonmel, we said he would have to finish within 10 lengths or we won't be ringing in for this horse! "What did he only do, he went and won. We had a cheap horse on our hands then. We were the only ones registered to claim. "We brought him home and here we are in Dundalk. "We wanted experience and we saw Seamie was available and we said he's the man for the job. He showed a masterclass there, unbelievable. "During Covid-19, I really got into racing. It was probably the Ebor Festival at York in 2021 that really got me into it. "I have worked for Gordon Elliott, Henry de Bromhead and Eoin Griffin, and have a lot of experience in the National Hunt game, but I love the pedigrees and the Flat pedigrees. I was looking at that Voice Of Reason pedigree and you couldn't find a National Hunt horse in there, all dirt horses. "I said 'I think this is a Dundalk horse'." (Quotes by Michael Graham)
