Mocking made work hard to gain breakthrough success The Johnny Murtagh trained Mocking had to work much harder than anticipated before belatedly registering a first career win at the tenth time of asking in the Gary's Gardening Services Maiden at Roscommon. Sent off 1/1f under Ben Coen, the OTI Racing owned gelding chased leader Bobby Kirova for much of the race. Everything appeared to be going smoothly for favourite backers as Mocking came through to lead over two furlongs out. However, the Gavin Cromwell trained McLoughlin threatened to spoil the party when heading Mocking a furlong from home. To his credit, the latter battled back bravely on the run-in, rallying close home to get back up to score by a neck. Coen said:- “He was good. He jumped and travelled strongly and handled the ground well. “We thought this horse would be winning before now and it’s nice to get his head in front. “His half-brother only seems to be getting going in England now so hopefully he can improve with age. “He handles that ground well. He probably could have done with a lead a bit longer but he dug it out well. “I made the running on him here before and he didn’t enjoy it. “I was actually planning on sitting third or fourth but the way it worked out I was a little bit handier and probably got there a bit too soon but he stayed going well. “We thought this horse was nice early on in the year so hopefully he can keep going.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson.
