O'Connell's Alnofoor is a 40/1 shock winner at the Curragh Despite being no less than 16lbs wrong at the weights, Alnofoor rattled home un to take the Mongey Communications Sprint Handicap over five furlongs at the Curragh. Rory Mulligan’s mount raced in mid-division and had plenty to approaching the final furlong as Gerrit's Gem set sail for home, but the Twilight Son gelding motored home to thwart that rival by a head. The eight-year-old, twice a winner at a lower level early in the season and unplaced at Nottingham during the week, is owned by David Laverty and N Stenhouse. “He went to Nottingham on Wednesday and we were so disappointed. Unless he didn’t travel, we don’t know what went wrong,” said winning trainer Claire O'Connell. “He came home bouncing around the paddock and we just declared him last minute on Friday morning as he was so fresh. “He won’t go on the all-weather, he needs a bit of give in the ground, so we said we’d take our chance here today. “We’re absolutely delighted. It’s my first winner here in the Curragh. “The horses have been hitting the crossbar, things just haven’t been falling right, so any winner is great. “He’ll go on a break now and hopefully be back in the spring.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson
