Another pillar to post win for Areana & O'Gorman Just as they did at Naas less than a fortnight ago, Areana and Jessica O'Gorman once again dominated from the front, leading home 12 rivals in the Children's Heartbeat Trust Apprentice Handicap. The first time blinkers that were deployed at Naas remained in place this evening, with the Pride Of Dubai six-year-old returned the 7/2 favourite. Now two from two since joining Eddie and Patrick Harty, the market leader soon established a healthy advantage and while her lead was reduced in the closing stages, she held on well to prevail by three-quarters of a length. Returned at 13/2, God Knows was best of the rest under Patrick McGettigan, while Calzaghi (5/1) was another half-a-length back in third. "Over the moon, delighted!" Patrick Harty said. "A lot of credit to Eamonn (Crawford, owner) for having confidence in retaining faith in her. She obviously showed him something early on that he persisted and fair dues as often you are not rewarded. "She (O'Gorman) is very good and deserves to get more opportunities. Herself and Alex Egan are great friends and were both working for us at the same time. Alex has had six winners from 18 rides since she went to England and it just shows how competitive it is here to the rest of the world basically. "I think there is another apprentice race on Tuesday and, if we run a horse, we plan to use her. "Our plan all along was to find a mile and a-quarter, a mile and a-half handicap on good ground, and give her one good crack of the whip and see what happened. "Her work was good at home. We went to Naas hopeful, Eamonn was confident, but we were hopeful! She won that and that was Plan A. We are in bonus territory. "Myself and Eddie had a chat, I had a kind of mad idea and put her in the Northfields (over Irish Champions Festival). She is out of the handicap, but I thought if she won again, I'd be kicking myself if she wasn't in. I don't think she is going to go up enough to get into the race. "If she did get in, why not? She lives next to the racecourse. It could be a plan, but maybe we will look at something now a little bit fancier if she doesn't go for that." STEWARDS REPORTS * S. Coen, rider of Doctor Grace, trained by Adrian McGuinness, reported to the Clerk of the Scales that his mount got hampered after a furlong. Having viewed a recording of the race and considered the matter, the Raceday Stewards were satisfied that no further action was warranted. Additional reporting by Michael Graham
