French Claim and Billy Lee (near side) beat Bienvenue © Photo Healy Racing
French Claim displaced Bienvenue from favouritism and got the better of her on the track as well in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Median Auction Maiden.
Backed from 9/4 into 11/8 favourite, the debutant was slowly away and had to come from well off the pace to launch his challenge in the straight. He picked up well for Billy Lee to lead at the furlong marker and proved half a length too good for his market rival with the pair pulling clear of third home All In The Mind
The winner made E36,000 at a breeze-up sale in June.
Winning trainer Paddy Twomey said: "He's a nice horse and I was hoping he'd run a nice race.
“When I saw he was drawn in 14 and looked at the stats it didn't make great reading.
“Like a lot of mine first time he was a bit clueless early on but he was able to put it together in the second half of the race, so that was great.
“He's my first horse for Teme Valley so it's a nice start.
“He's a nice big horse and will make a fine three-year-old. I'm not sure if he'll run again this year but he might.”
Twomey has now won with 11 of the 19 horses he has sent to the races so far this season.
Quotes from Gary Carson
