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O'Keeffe and de Bromhead grab brace of winners through fortunate Nastya

Nastya approaches the line with the riderless AttaboyarchieNastya approaches the line with the riderless Attaboyarchie
© Healy Racing Photos

Nastya was a fortuitous winner of the Bet With Tote On Racing & Sports Handicap Steeplechase to seal doubles for Henry de Bromhead and Darragh O'Keeffe in Limerick. Attaboyarchie was produced to lead before two out by Emma Sweeney with Nastya in close attendance. Those two horses opened up a gap on the remainder when third-running Nytol made a bad mistake and unseated John Shinnick there.

Attaboycharlie jumped the last better than Nastya and looked home for all money in the closing stages, however, the saddle slipped and Sweeney was given no chance to retain the partnership as she was unseated to gift the race to Nastya (9/4f). Harbour Highway ran on eye-catchingly in second to be just half a length in arrears at 4/1 with Smallcraftwarning five and a-half lengths away in third at 11/1.

O'Keeffe said: "You'd feel for Emma, whose parents own the horse, and I remember it happening to me one day in Galway. I was only going to finish fourth or fifth at the time, but came off the horse as the saddle had slipped. You'd feel for connections today.

"My mare had run a blinder to that point as it was her first run for a while and she had plenty weight, so I think there is plenty of improvement in her. She was a fortunate winner, but we'll take it and she will race on for the summer.

"I had three 'seconds' since my winner earlier today, so it was nice to get another one."

O'Keeffe also partnered Look To The West to victory in the mares' chase for de Bromhead.

Additional reporting by Tom Weekes

About Michael Graham
Michael has worked in horse racing journalism for more than 15 years, having also written a weekly betting column on Gaelic football and hurling for a newspaper. He is involved in writing the My Racing Story features on this website. He spent a year in South Africa completing a Diploma in Business Administration and also studied Newspaper Journalism in Belfast. He enjoys playing 5-a-side football on a regular basis.