Trustyourinstinct and Declan McDonogh © Photo Healy Racing
Long odds-on favourite Up And Under was ruled out of the Bet Builder Novibet Irish EBF (C&G) Maiden due to a temperature but Joseph O’Brien still saddled the winner as Trustyourinstinct made a successful debut at the Curragh.
There would have been a sizeable Rule 4 deduction on overnight offers of 40/1 as Voice Of Reason was also among the non-runners but Trustyourinstinct was well-supported throughout the afternoon to go off the 11/4 favourite.
Declan McDonogh got a nice run up the inner to lead over a furlong out and the JP McManus-owned son of Churchill stayed on strongly inside the final 150 yards to beat the front-running Dubawi Delight by three and three-quarter lengths. Dawn Session was also prominent throughout in this 1m2f event finishing a further half-a-length back in third.
O'Brien said, “He looks a nice horse. We thought he'd run well and he'll have learned a lot.
“He was green in the middle of the race there but I thought he went to the line well. It was a good performance on debut.
"I'm not sure where we go now, it's a difficult enough spot when you win first time at this time of year. He'll probably end up going for a winners' race.
“You wouldn't be rushing to go 12 but he should get it.”
Quotes by Gary Carson
