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Donal Murphy

Donal Murphy

Poignant success for the Cleary family

Mon 17th Aug 2015, 19:27

Rory Cleary gives his mother Kathleen a kiss with his father Tom (suit) alongsideRory Cleary gives his mother Kathleen a kiss with his father Tom (suit) alongside
© Photo Healy Racing

The father and son combination of Tom and Rory Cleary teamed up with Greanta to win the race named in honour of their son and brother Sean.

Sean of course died tragically in 2003, a few days after a fall when riding at Galway Racecourse.

Previously trained by Jim Bolger Greanta was making her debut for Tom Cleary this evening.

Having opened at 7/1 on-course she drifted out to 9's at the off and was settled in mid-division on the rail.

She was pushed along and improved into fourth approaching the straight and was ridden with two furlongs left to race.

She went second over a furlong out and soon gained a marginal lead, keeping on well in the closing stages to score by three parts of a length.

The front-running Liberty's Gift (7/1) had to settle for second under Daniel Redmond for Paul Flynn while Mountain Kingdom (16/1) was a further two and a half lengths back in third under Gary Carroll for John Larkin.

Tom Cleary said afterwards: "I don't have her too long. We only bought her after Leopardstown (July 23rd).

"Most of the credit must go to Jim Bolger. I asked him if he had something that might have a chance in Sean's race.

"All we had to do was keep her ticking over and keep her sweet.

"Rory gave her super ride and of course he was used to her having won on her as a two-year-old.

"It's a great result to win Sean's race and it means a lot, especially at Roscommon which is my local track."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson

1st
9/1
Tote €9.60 €2.70
2nd
0.75L
7/1
€2.50
3rd
2.5L
16/1
€5.10
4th
0.5L
9/2
bf
nose
3/1Fav
About Donal Murphy
Donal graduated from Maynooth University in 2010 with a BBS in Equine Business and since attained a diploma in Sports Journalism from Dublin Business School. He holds a variety of roles in the horse racing industry, reporting for the Press Association and p2p.ie, while also working for SIS and the Tote. From Wexford, he is a keen runner and has completed over 100 parkruns at various locations around the country.