Amen Kate begins her chase career with a win The Tom Cooper-trained Amen Kate (8/1) made a successful start to her chasing career as she accounted for her three rivals in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Mares Beginners Chase at Limerick over two miles and three furlongs. A listed winner over hurdles, the Flemensfirth mare was a victim of a bad start at the Cheltenham Festival before pulling up at Fairyhouse over three weeks later. Under Daniel King, she was positioned behind the pace for most of this contest. The Ciaran Mooney and John Ryan-owned mare led before two out and although making a mistake at the second last, she found plenty under pressure to fend off the staying-on Future Prospect (3/1) by half a length, with favourite Echoing Silence (4/9) a further head back in third. Tom Copper enthused afterwards how, "that was beautiful. She is not over-big but had a lot of schooling done and Jack Kennedy, who rode her last season, always said she'd be better over fences. She is a lot bigger than her mother (Augusta Kate) was and, today, was quick and like a cat over her fences. "At Cheltenham last March, she jumped off as the others were jumping the first so had no chance, which was unfortunate. She was startled by the tape then, which you couldn't blame her for. There were also five false starts in that same race, which was a joke. "There's a mares' novice for her in Cork in December for her and, being so well bred, we'll look for more blacktype now." Additional reporting by Tom Weekes.
