News round-up: Curragh trainer Kevin Prendergast enjoyed his 50th winner of the season when the Hamdan Al Maktoum-owned Fikrah landed the Kilcarn Stud EBF Fillies Maiden at Navan yesterday.
The 12 to 1 shot was not ignored at morning price quotes of 16 to 1 (paid over 50 to 1 on the Tote) and she left her debut effort well behind to beat Crystal Swan by two lengths under Declan McDonogh, who was recording win number 69 of the season.
Simawa, a half-sister to Sinndar, was easy in the betting for her first outing but caught the eye in coming home well for third.
The Maktoum, Prendergast and McDonogh partnership was the trio to follow again in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden half an hour later with Moiqen, giving Prendergast his 51st success of the campaign and McDonogh his 70th.
Like Fikrah, this fellow didn't feature on his debut, but he was nibbled at in early trading from 14 to 1 into 10 to 1 and completed a 142 to 1 double for connections.
Leading under a furlong out, Moiqen kept on well to lead home the trio of Ballydoyle representatives, Mikhail Fokine, Alessandro Volta and Bashkirov.
Laureldean shed his maiden tag on the level at the age of nine in the two-mile October Maiden. Trained locally by Michael Cunningham, Laureldean was adding to six National Hunt successes.
A busy recent schedule which included two appearances at both the Galway and Listowel Festivals and going described as good to firm, good in places, proved no barrier to success.
The following race saw the Maktoum silks carried to victory for the third time with Laywaan (Dermot Weld/Pat Smullen) dead-heating with Aidan O'Brien and Seamie Heffernan's Don Pedro Mendoza.
The winner provided Pat Smullen with his 86th winner of the season, leaving him 16 clear of current champion McDonogh in the race for the jockeys' title.
A price of 4 to 1 about Ger Lyons's Dohasa proved irresistible for some in the Kells Nursery Handicap. He was backed into 100 to 30 and comfortably accounted for Marizan by one and three-quarter lengths.
There may have been 23 to choose from in the opening Derrinstown Stud Apprentice Handicap but punters got it right when 6 to 1 market-leader Danetime Lily obliged. The Joanna Morgan-trained, Amy Parsons-ridden three-year-old led inside the final furlong and went on to beat Marinebird by half a length.
Belle Of The Lodge took the penultimate race for John Oxx and Michael Kinane but the pair were denied a double in the last by the Frank Ennis-trained Sunny'n Smart.
