Halon Bay justifies support in Leopardstown opener Halon Bay showed the benefit of two previous outings this year when opening his account at the third attempt in the opening FITZ AGRIPLANT Maiden at Leopardstown. The 13/8 favourite Goomah made a bold bid from the front in this 7f event but was reeled in by two rivals in the closing stages. Halon Bay, available at 20/1 in the morning and sent off at half those odds, responded gamely under pressure for Ben Coen getting up to score by a neck from Valentino Eclipse who also came home strongly. Goomah couldn’t find any extra close home a further half a length back in third. Winning trainer Ciaran Murphy said, “It was lovely. He has improved with every run. “Luke (McAteer) gave him a super ride the last day. He got wide in Bellewstown and as a result he learned plenty. He was more streetwise today. “With normal improvement, we didn’t expect him to win today but we expected him to run well. “He got a strong ride from Ben, and he handled the ground really well. The penny started to drop two furlongs out. He ran a lovely race; he’s a nice horse. “We were hoping he’d be able to win a maiden. He has that job done now and we’ll take it from there. “He’s a big horse and time will do him good. He’ll get a mile-and-a-quarter.” Quotes by Gary Carson
