Duke lays down the Law at Listowel Brendan Duke was in top form following his success with Canon Law (13/2) in the Kevin's Bar Listowel/Exchange Inn Handicap today, as the colourful trainer bridged a nine-year gap between Listowel festivals wins. There was plenty of bumping in the early stages of the 15-runner race but Canon Law, under jockey Reese Holohan, led from halfway and maintained his strong gallop to score by three and a quarter lengths from Priorstown . Afterwards Duke, whose horses have hit a rich vein of form, reported “Canon Law is improving all the time, which is absolutely great, and we are very excited by him. “He keeps turning up, although I thought he didn’t deserve to be penalised (12lb) for running his heart out in a Galway apprentice race on heavy ground the last day: I thought that was a bit OTT. “He is as genuine as gold and you won’t see the best of him until he jumps hurdles. He has no hang-ups, doesn’t need any counselling or anything. He lives a quiet life, comes to the races and thank God for him.” Dubliner Duke added “we love coming down to Kerry and getting a few quid, as it is hard to be listening to them up in Jones’ Road (Croke Park) with all their crap about football. The horse is a bit like me, as we don’t like going home without a ‘number 1’.” “We won with a very nice horse Warm The Voice here (in 2017) and this horse is catching up. He has come from a rating of 43 and likes this winning game.”
