Relation to Snow Fairy wins well at Thurles The Austrian (2/1 — 13/8f) defied a heavy weight burden to land Thurles’ Killinan Handicap today, as the relation of top racemare Snow Fairy scored consecutive wins for trainer Jessica Harrington and owners Anamoine Limited. Ridden by Seamie Heffernan, The Austrian was bumped leaving stalls and having later quickened to lead in the home straight, edged right in the closing strides, briefly impeding runner-up, and stablemate Pierre Grosse. New-Bay sired The Austrian is out of a half-sister to globetrotting six-time Group 1-winner Snow Fairy, and today Harrington’s son-in-law Richie Galway, himself the joint-owner of runner-up Pierre Grosse, commented “The Austrian is from a special family and we’ve always liked him but he has taken a little bit of time to come to hand. “Winning a handicap first-time, no matter what mark they have, is never straightforward but he did it snugly. He is good at that (1m5f) trip, can go further and Seamie thinks there is more improvement in him. I’m not sure whether we’ll get another run into him this season but he is a nice horse for next year. “He is owned by Mrs Patino, a great longterm owner of ours, and she is very fond of this horse.”
