Irish Lace records debut win in the Downpatrick bumper Irish Lace made a winning debut at odds of 5/1 for Stephen Connor and Stuart Crawford in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares (Pro/Am) INH Flat Race at Downpatrick. The Warren Ewing-owned filly asserted off the home bend under Connor and kept on well inside the final furlong to beat Goodgollymissholly by two and a half lengths. The 4/5 favourite Churchfield Annie couldn’t find any extra on the uphill climb to the line finishing a further five lengths back in third. Crawford said, “She's nice. She's Warren(Ewing)’s obviously and he had done a lot of work with her over the wintertime. "She kind of missed her slot to go in the point-to-points. He had always liked her. He had her at the sales and I looked at her and liked her. He wasn't prepared to take what I was going to give him at that stage! "She just wasn't ready for the point-to-points and Warren gave her to me a couple of months ago. The filly has improved hand over fist the last lot of weeks. You couldn't have faulted today. "That nice ground there suited her and she is a good-moving animal. She did it well and she is probably green enough, still a wee bit lonely in front. A lead for longer, she would have hopefully run better. "Get a start with her and take it from there. She's only a four-year-old and we'll see if there's something else later in the summer. "She's a nice one to go and have a bit of fun with. Hopefully, we can do that. "The way she ran there today, you wouldn't be afraid to go in a better bumper with her and give her a chance. Stephen was pretty confident; he has been riding her a fair bit at home there lately." Quotes by Michael Graham
