Temperance sheds maiden tag under Hayes The Katie McGivern trained Temperance registered a first win when staying on strongly under Chris Hayes to land the Declan Landy Fencing Handicap at Naas. A seven-race maiden prior to today, the daughter of Churchill had shown promise when reaching the frame in three of those starts. Runner-up to the reopposing Jorge Alvares at Dundalk last time, the 5/1 chance made the most of a 3lb swing in the weights to head that latter rival close home. With plenty of pace up front, Smoke Them Out, Jorge Alvares and No Return vied for the lead. Tracking the leaders in mid division, Hayes went third on Temperance over a furlong out, as Colin Keane took over in front on Jorge Alvares. Getting to the leader with every stride, Temperance led inside the last 50 yards, going on to beat Jorge Alvares half-a-length. “She’s always been a very good filly,” said McGivern. “I ran her in the Birdcatcher and thought she’d win that. I put a tongue-tie on her to see if it would improve her and she didn’t jump and got into all the trouble. She looked like the winner of the race to me but didn’t get the run. “I said we’d go back to maidens and we kept bumping into one. She ran a blinder two months ago in Dundalk. Johnny Murtagh’s filly (Songhai) won it and she was third in a Listed race the other day. “I’ve always thought she’d a black-type filly but couldn’t win my maiden. I kept coming up against 90 horses so I said we’d just go for a handicap. “The last day I ran her back a bit too quick and I saw it wasn’t the thing to do. “I said I’d freshen her right up and thankfully the ground has stayed firm, because that’s what she wants. “Everyone keeps preaching that she wants seven, I don’t disagree as I think she could stay seven but I think six is her trip. “There is a race next week for her but it would be the same mistake again, running her back too quick. “It was either the 0-80 against older horses or this. I thought there would be a huge field for this but there were only 12 or 13 entries and seven declared, but it was a hot field. “On paper and homework she should win that but she just hadn’t won.”
