The Eddie Lynam-trained Red Feather, runner-up in last season's Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes, justified 4/7 favouritism in the featured 'Peter Clohessy's Bar' Race at Limerick last night. Red Feather though was far from impressive as she had to be kept up to her work by Niall McCullagh to repel Shersha by three parts of a length.
McCullagh went onto complete a double aboard bottom-weight Karramalu in the Kopparbergs Pear Cider Handicap. The Mark Loughnane-trained Karramalu stormed to the front with two furlongs remaining to beat String Serenade by six lengths.
Fran Berry rode no less than two winners, two of whom were supplied by the absent John Oxx. Oxx's Azarouak got Berry off the mark by justifying odds-on favouritism in the McInerney Homes Maiden.
The formidable Oxx/Berry combination also took the closing Ladbroke Maiden with the Aga Khan-owned newcomer Zarghari which beat Kari Hills by a smooth nine lengths. Berry also won the Irwin Bros. Jewellers Best Dressed Lady Handicap with Noel Meade's More Rainbows.
Cathy Gannon maintained her rich vein of form by bringing James Burns' Cape Flattery with a well-timed challenge to deny Tipper Road in the Grant Thornton Handicap.
The Kevin Prendergast-trained Kestrel Cross showed all the correct qualities to land the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders Fund Auction Maiden. A gelded son of Cape Cross, Kestrel Cross asserted inside the final furlong to beat Belle Artiste by a neck with Christy Geoghegan.
