Enter The Red, blinkers, fends them off in the Curragh © Photo Healy Racing
Enter The Red gave jockey Chris Hayes a double on the opening evening of the Derby Festival at the Curragh.
The eight-year-old gelding tracked clear leader St Brelades Bay in second and was shaken up to close inside the final quarter of a mile.
Hayes rode him into the lead in the final furlong and kept him up to his work to win by three parts of a length at 9/1. Sahreej came home second at 12/1, a short head in front of Ma Fee Heela (6/1).
Trainer Aidan Howard said: “I was hopeful coming here tonight as he ran very well the last day. We freshened him up and the extra furlong seemed to help. He seems a better horse this year and he’s better at the Curragh. Hopefully he’ll come back here in a fortnight.”
Hayes took the previous race on board Casla
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
