John The Baptist, light blue and white, comes to catch Shark Bay, purple and white© Photo Healy Racing
John The Baptist got up in the final stride to win a thrilling renewal of the seven furlong juvenile colts and geldings maiden on Irish Oaks day at the Curragh.
Fozzy Stack's Caravaggio gelding went off an unconsidered 50/1 shot on debut in what looked a hot race.
He had plenty on his plate as he was off the bridle in fourth approaching the final quarter of a mile. Mark Enright rode him into third flashing past the furlong pole as Shark Bay led from a challenging Sen Ding
Enright conjured up a strong finish from his mount and they rattled home on the inner to nail 3/1 joint favourite Shark Bay by a nose. Sen Ding who was very well backed this morning was just a neck away in third at 9/2. Pioneering Spirit stormed home on the outer, on debut, to finish a short head out of the places in fourth and earned a notebook entry for punters.
Stack said: “He has a bit of talent but he was fairly hardy in the spring and that's why we decided to geld him.
“I thought he'd run a nice race but coming here on these weekends is tough.
“Mark rode him as he's done a good job at home with him and put a lot of work into him because he can be hardy.
“He did it well there today, he stuck at it well and toughed it out.
“We trained his mother (Blue Murder), who was very fast, and his father was obviously very fast, but he was always giving us the impression he'd want to go seven furlongs or a mile.
“Looking at him, he's a real powerhouse and you'd think he'd be a sprinter but maybe it's something in the genetics breaking through.
“It's nice he's won and we'll see what we do with him from here. Being a gelding you are a bit limited where you can go.”
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
