Irish rugby's head coach Joe Schmidt had a first success as a racehorse owner when his runner Cosmic Horizon won at Roscommon on Monday.
Cosmic Horizon landed the Irish Stallion Farms Auction Race for two-year olds under the season's leading jockey Donnacha O'Brien.
The 7-4 favourite is trained by O’Brien’s brother Joseph and was winning on the third attempt. He had previously finished runner up at the Galway festival.
Schmidt wasn’t at Roscommon to greet his winner but after Cosmic Horizon’s two-and-a-quarter length defeat of Dark Conqueror his jockey reported: “It was a good performance and it wasn’t a bad race. He was unlucky at the Galway and it’s nice to get a win into him.
“Joe was in Galway the last day but isn’t here today. Joe is good friends of ours and it’s nice to get a winner for him. I think he has an interest – Joseph would tell you more. But you’d never know, he could get another horse and I think he enjoys going racing.”
It was a productive evening overall for Joseph O’Brien who went on to complete a near 500-1 hat-trick on the card. His brother rode Best No Argue to a 6-1 victory while the 25-1 outsider Flicker Flame also scored.
