Lars soldiers on The highly tried Lars Soldier doubles his tally at the ninth attempt by a head in the featured Irish Stallion Farms EBF Nursery Handicap at Navan over six furlongs. Turned out for the second time this week, Michael Mulvany's charge had seemingly done his running for the year after disappointing on his last two starts; however, this was a big step back in the right direction. Owned by Lawrence Mulvany, the Soldier's Call gelding was handy on the near side throughout, and he came under pressure when short of room over one furlong out. He stayed on strongly in the final 200 yards, and despite Wesley Joyce losing one of his irons, the bay got up in the final strides to deny Howlin Wolf (17/2). Lady Patrona (5/1) lost two places close to home and finished third, beaten by a neck. Mick Mulvany said: "He said he lost his iron about a furlong down and he was well balanced; it is all about balance. "We'll probably be trying to go for the Birdcatcher (Naas) now to get the bonus if you win it (€20,000 bonus as a winner of a qualifying nursery handicap). "He's a competitive little horse and, at the end of the day, he was entitled to take his chance. He has been knocking on the door, and we tried him over seven (furlongs), but the opposition we were running against was very high. We came back into a nursery there and he is very competitive. "Wesley is very competitive on light weights and for the size of him, he is very strong. I think he only has one or two (winners) left on his apprenticeship. He's well capable." Additional reporting by Michael Graham.
