Donovan rides out claim as Surf gets her winning turn at Downpatrick The 11/8 chance Saunton Surf was another winning favourite on the day as jockey Philip Donovan enjoyed a milestone moment when taking the C. Russell Auto Sales Beginners Chase at Downpatrick. A narrow runner-up over a shorter trip on her chasing debut at the track last month, the Gary McGill-trained seven-year-old led at the third-last fence and asserted before the last to win by four and a half lengths from Ciaran Murphy’s 5/1 shot Anodandawink. The success saw Donovan ride out his claim. The winning mare is owned by the GeeGees Syndicate and her trainer said: “She did it well. She jumps brilliant and she won her point-to-point back in England. “She won a bumper and went hurdling and sort of lost her way a wee bit. I think so (fences could be the making of her), she has sweetened up lovely from when we got her. She's a different mare, turned inside out for us. A real nice mare and a sweet mare now. “Onwards and upwards, hopefully. We will probably keep her going for the summer. We always have that to drop back to hurdling. We'll see where we go and what else there is chasing in say four or five weeks’ time. “We probably could (travel with her) - Cartmel or somewhere like that because, on some of those tighter tracks, she could probably front-run." Additional reporting by Michael Graham.
