AIRFIELD DAISY DELIVERS IN STYLE TO LAND KASKO FINAL

Peter Farrell

There was €1,800 up for grabs in the final of the Kasko Unraced Bitch 525 at Clonmel on Friday night, and it was Airfield Daisy who rose to the occasion with a brilliant off-the-pace display to claim top honours for Jack and Paul Ryan.

Having shown plenty of promise in the earlier rounds with a pair of strong-finishing second-place efforts, the Graham Holland-trained bitch chose the perfect night to get everything right. Installed as the 6/4 favourite, ‘Daisy’ broke smartly from trap six but was outpaced in the early exchanges as Quivers View showed the better early dash to take control. As Too Spicy also moved into contention on the inside, a brief tangle between her and Airfield Daisy allowed Quivers View to slip three lengths clear down the back straight. However, Daisy was far from done. Showing her trademark pace from the halfway mark, the daughter of Here Comes Syd and Airfield Biddy began to motor approaching passing the 300-yards box, reeling in the leader within the blink of an eye. Turning for home, she swept up the inside to take command and powered clear in the closing stages to seal an impressive three-length victory over the gallant Quivers View. The winning time was a decent 29.12.

SLANEYSIDE DOUBLE ON SUPPORTING CARD

Earlier in the card, there was a good double for the kennel of Derek Kehoe as both Slaneyside Joel and Slaneyside Layla prevailed.

The first of the double came in race three as Slaneyside Joel broke his maiden tag in trap-to-line fashion. Sent off as a 7/2 chance, ‘Joel’ was only moderately into stride from six but showed excellent early gears to course around his rivals. In doing so, the son of Mustang Jet raced into a commanding lead and althoughChamberlain Star did make inroads late on, ‘Joel’ had enough in reserve to cross the line with one and a half lengths to spare. The time was 29.13.

The double was secured in the very next race as Slaneyside Layla justified 11/4 favouritism as she made it back-to-back wins. Drawn in red, ‘Layla’ trailed the field at traprise, however, gained a lovely passage up the inside to sit third. From there, the daughter of King Sheeran showed impressive back straight to bridge the gap and she shot clear rounding the penultimate turn. Thereafter, it was all one-way traffic as Kehoe’s charge crossed the line with three lengths to spare over Charming Steph in second. The time was 29.15.