Gutsy Glyndwr showcases his talent Glyndwr made it three wins from four starts at Dundalk, as he justified market confidence in the irishinjuredjockeys.com Claiming Race. Available at 9/4 in early shows for this 14-runner heat, the Ger Lyons-trained three-year-old was eventually returned the clear favourite at 6/5. Quickly sent to the front by Colin Keane, the 84-rated bay was headed approaching halfway, but remained close in second. Regaining the lead early in the straight and ridden with a furlong and a half to go, the Philip Richards-owned victor battled on determinedly in the closing stages, holding off the effort of Benavente (11/1) by a head. The market leader in early shows, Independent Expert was eventually returned a 5/2 chance and she finished a further three-quarters of a length back in third. "There's a reason that we have to run them in the claimers - we love these claimers because we get to a point that we know what their handicap (mark) is but, to be fair to this horse, he's as genuine as the day is long," assistant trainer Shane Lyons reflected. "The actual handicapper has been very harsh on him, how he has treated him throughout the whole year. We got to a stage where we know what his mark is and, albeit it is only a claimer, they have to go into it. "We know what their marks are and we think claimers are a great idea, rather than have to ship them to the sales - probably spend three months training fees trying to get them to the sales and what not. "All our horses are genuine, fit physically. "We hope so (somebody else will get a turn out of him), there's a lot of interest in him and we wish the very best to the next person because we are a big believer that there should be more claimers." The winner was later claimed by C O'Toole for E15,000 and will now be trained by Danny Murphy, while Rock Etoile, who finished fourth, was picked up by Conor McKenna for E5,000 and will by trained by his father Patrick. The connections of Benavente (E10,000) claimed back their gelding. Additional reporting by Michael Graham
