Racing

Local rider Mikey Fogarty is the star of show with 263/1 treble at Wexford

Conditional jockey, fresh from his first Cheltenham Festival triumph on Don Poli, continues his fine run

Mikey Fogarty after his festival win on Don Poli. The Wexford jockey continued his fine run of form with a treble at his local track yesterday.
Mikey Fogarty after his festival win on Don Poli. The Wexford jockey continued his fine run of form with a treble at his local track yesterday.
Tue Mar 18 2014 - 01:00

Mikey Fogarty was the star of the show as he snatched a 263/1 St Patrick’s Day treble at Wexford yesterday.

The conditional, fresh from his first Cheltenham Festival triumph on Don Poli, continued his fine run with what proved an eventful hat-trick.

A dramatic double in the opening two races on Sardinia and The Mooch for Paul Nolan was followed by success on the Colm Murphy-trained Mister Hotelier in the Michael O’Murchadha Memorial Rated Hurdle. “It is unreal, and it is great to do it in my home town as well,” said Fogarty.

Mister Hotelier (7/1) secured only his second win from 15 starts when holding Lughnasa by three-quarters of a length.

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"Mikey gave him a peach of a ride, he won the race. I could only half see it because I got my eyes lasered last week," said Murphy, who was also on the board with Express Du Berlais at Down Royal.

'Back into form'
"It is nice that the horses are coming back into form, and he will mix it between fences and hurdles."

Fogarty and Nolan had luck on their side in the first two races. Voice Of A Curlew looked the likely winner of the Wexford Racecourse Supporters Club Maiden Hurdle, but she crashed out at the final flight.

The favourite Ashjar was hampered in the incident, while the ex-Aidan O’Brien-trained Sardinia (9/2) met the flight all wrong but recovered to collect by half a length from Shutter Island.

Nolan said: “He is just not that good at jumping, and he took a few hurdles out the ground and it cost him a lot.

“I thought the blinkers would sharpen him up and they did to a certain extent. He will mix it now between the hurdles and the Flat,” added Nolan.

It was a similar story in the Join The Wexford Racecourse Supporters Club Today Maiden Hurdle with The Mooch (5/1) going on to beat Ontopoftheworld by a neck after Lipinski took a fatal fall at the last when in the lead.

“I think I’ll do the Lotto on the way home tonight! His jumping wasn’t fluent and he would have finished a decent second, but he wasn’t stopping. He was giving plenty of weight as well,” said Nolan.

“We couldn’t sell him at Newmarket, and this was his first run since then.”

Liz Doyle’s Snowell (7/2 favourite) completed a treble wiith a head success in a driving finish to the St Patrick’s Day Novice Handicap Hurdle under 7lb-claiming amateur Johnny Burke.