Selective Power leads home 1-2 for Coyle in Elphin Handicap Selective Power (7/1 - 11/2) defied joint top-weight of 10st 1lb with a strong effort in the Elphin Handicap at Roscommon. He had been soft and heavy-ground placed before, so all the rain over Roscommon was clearly music to his ears. He chased the leaders for James Ryan and was driven to the front racing to the final furlong. The six-year-old gelding really opened up in the final 150 yards to slam his rivals by seven and a-half lengths. He led home a one-two for trainer Thomas Coyle as his Manhattan Dandy was best of the rest in second at 17/2. Alex Belardo was back in third at 14/1. This was Selective Power's fourth success - three for Coyle and one for Eddie Lynam. Coyle said: “It worked out very well, we couldn’t have thought it any better! “Ground is a big thing for him, he takes a few runs and the cheekpieces were back on - I’m delighted. “He’s probably a little bit better than this grade, but it’s just the way it fell. Every time we ran, we were hoping the rain was coming, but it never came. “James gave him a great ride. “It’s my Dad’s (Paul) syndicate (Urban & Rural Boys Syndicate). He was sick last year and this horse boosted him up no end. They’ve had this syndicate since Molly’s Boy 20 years ago. It’s still going with a few new friends. “The other horse was second. We were going to leave him to next week, but the lads are local. I thought he would have needed the run and expect him to improve. “We’ve a few horses ready to go, we’ve been waiting for the rain. Hopefully, we can keep going because it’s been frustrating, we had a good few seconds earlier in the year. Hopefully, we can kick on a get a few winners from here to the end of the year.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson.
