Seamie Heffernan, Stacey Fitzgibbon and David Geary with Getawiggleon © Photo Healy Racing
Getawiggleon defied a lengthy absence to win the Ladies Day July 29th Handicap in Gowran Park.
The six-year-old mare travelled well into the lead entering the straight, but it is a long way home from there.
Seamie Heffernan got to work on her inside the final quarter of a mile and she toughed it out well.
She climbed the rising ground well and actually asserted in the closing stages to come in by a length and a half on her first run since September 2021. The daughter of Rio De La Plata went off at 16/1 but had been as big as 50/1 this morning. Redstone Well (9/1) was beaten into second but was two and a half lengths clear of Expound (16/1).
Trainer David Geary said: “She was in foal but lost the foal, so I said we'd get her back as I felt there was a bit more in her as she finished up not in the best of form.
“She's filled out a bit more with time, hopefully the handicapper won't go nuts and we might pick up another one along the way.
“I said to Seamie if his teeth were rattling in his head the ground is just about right for her!
“If it's any softer than that she just doesn't cope with it. Hopefully we have a bit of a handle on her now and she can pick up some more races.
“She was ready to run a month ago, but the ground was not there. She had been working well, so we were confident she wouldn't embarrass us.
“She lost her foal over six months ago and as you can see she's a light-framed filly, so there weren't layers of fat to be shifted off her.
“She'd been to the Old Vic a few times and we were happy coming to this level today.
“If the ground holds right, depending on what the handicapper does, I think there is a fillies' nine-furlong handicap for her in Leopardstown on Thursday week.
“We had plenty of time, two years, to come to some sort of conclusion with her. I've had days when the satisfaction has been very low and it's rare when it works out.”
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
