Marnane lands the Madrid with East Hampton East Hampton (7/1) was a strong-travelling winner of the Irish Racing Writers Association Ron McKnight Memorial Madrid Handicap for David Marnane and Luke McAteer. A Curragh maiden winner at two and gelded over the winter, the son of Cracksman was stepping up to seven furlongs for the first time and, having tracked the leaders on the inner, got a nice split entering the final quarter mile. Soon moving up to tackle Wizard Of Odds, he led over a furlong out and went away to beat that rival by a length and a half with the pair clear. David Marnane, who trains the winner for MRC International, said: “He obviously had a very good run the first day and then the only day he got anything resembling soft ground he won on it. “He wants an ease in the ground. We brought him to Dundalk and his fractions were actually very good but he just didn’t like the surface so we put him away with this in mind. “We’ll see where he lands, he’s a good horse anyway. “Six was as far as he’d gone and that was a big worry. I was delighted to see the low draw and Luke gave him a fabulous ride, dropped him in and got him to switch off as best he could. “He will learn from it, he was fresh today. He saw it out well, you couldn’t say that he didn’t stop galloping. He was good and straight when he went past. “As long as there is a bit of ease in the ground we’ll keep going.” Quotes from Gary Carson
