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Donal Murphy

Donal Murphy

Troon overturns the favourite in the opener

Thu 20th Sep 2012, 14:31

Troon comes home a comfortable winner of the first under Pat SmullenTroon comes home a comfortable winner of the first under Pat Smullen
© Photo Healy Racing

For the second day running Pat Smullen & Dermot Weld overturned a Ballydoyle 'jolly' as they took the opening Helena Sheahan Memorial Maiden with Troon

Yesterday it was the 5/2 shot Secret Recipe who beat the even money favourite Hall Of Mirrors while today it was Troon at 11/4 who upset the odds by beating the 11/8 favourite Exact (drifted from evens on-course).

The 3yo son of Kitten's Joy had one run to his name before today that coming at Killarney earlier this month where he finished seventh of nine behind Crystal Kangaroo.

He clearly learned a lot from that experience as he tracked the leader, Exact, in second before improving to lead a furlong and a half from home going on from there to score by three lengths at the line in comfortable fashion.

Exact had to settle for second under Joseph O'Brien while Mount McLeod was three and three parts of a length back in third on his first start for Pat Flynn at 9/1.

Winning rider Pat Smullen said afterwards: "I could see the horse in front (Exact) was struggling quite a bit and I didn’t want to challenge him too soon.

"He did it well in the end. Obviously once we get some better ground he should improve again. It was a good opportunity and he has taken it well."

(On-course reporting by Alan Magee)

1st
11/4
Tote €4.90 €1.40
2nd
3L
11/8Fav
€1.02
3rd
3.75L
9/1
€1.40
4th
3L
11/1
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.