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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Road grinds out victory for Blackmore

Sun 10th Mar 2024, 15:48

Winner for Rachael BlackmoreWinner for Rachael Blackmore
© Photo Healy Racing

Raglan Road ground out success on his handicap debut when opening his account at Naas this afternoon.

The Henry de Bromhead-trained gelding was produced to challenge the front-running Kilbree Warrior after the second last, in the two-mile-three handicap hurdle, but had to work to get the better of her.

Having led away from the final flight the JP McManus-owned son of Soldier Of Fortune had to dig deep for Rachael Blackmore late on to hold the rallying mare at bay by half a length.

Racing manager Frank Berry said of the 11/2 winner afterwards:- “It was workmanlike, I thought the second was going to be hard to get past.

“It took a while for the penny to drop jumping-wise but he's getting the hang of it now.

“We'll stick to races like that for the time being with him.

“He had a few nice runs in maidens and then disappointed a little bit, maybe the ground in Gowran was a bit too heavy for him.

“That was nice there, he got a grand run around and she gave him a lovely ride.

“He was tough to get by the leader, when she's on song that mare takes a bit of pegging back.”

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.