Georgia Celena continues McConnell's winning run Georgia Celena continued a good recent run for trainer John McConnell when just holding on in a tremendous finish to the Follow Tote On X Handicap Hurdle at Downpatrick. The seven-year-old mare was reappearing after a break of nine months and travelled well to lead after two out. The 13/2 shot came under a strong drive from Ben Harvey after the last and kept on gamely to just hold off Custers Mistake by a fast-diminishing head. The runner-up was a moderate fifth after the last but really got motoring in the closing stages. Ella Rose was the subject of a huge market move with the Rosemary Connors-trained mare, as big as 66/1 early this morning, supported on track from 28/1 into 100/30 favourite. The gamble came under pressure approaching the final flight and could only keep on at one pace on the run-in eventually finishing fifth. McConnell, saddling a winner for the third successive day, said: "She ran some good races last year. After her last run, we found an issue and she needed a bit of time off, so she went back to the owner (Brenda Cunningham). "I was keen on getting her back because I did think we had left a race behind us. Fair play to the owners, they have been very patient and very loyal to me. They gave her back to me and Brian Hamilton has done a great job with her, he was doing a lot of the pre-training with her. She came back in super shape. "I'm delighted their patience and faith was rewarded because I kept telling them she would win. She hasn't had that many runs and there's not that much of her. She is probably better under-trained but I'm sure she will improve a little bit for it. We are still learning about her, but delighted. "They (Ben and Alex Harvey) are both excellent jockeys and lucky to have them both in the yard. They should be getting more rides externally - very tough in this country if you are not with the 'big five' or whatever, you struggle, but they are as good as any of the lads." Quotes by Michael Graham
