'I got as big a kick watching her win as when riding winners' - O'Connell on Galway double delight as new career takes off
Aisling Crowe talks to the former Grade 1-winning rider about a day to remember - and hopefully plenty more to come
The allure of Galway is partly its potential for the unexpected, the mixture of Flat and jumps allowing for feats other tracks just can't provide. Tuesday's action was no exception, with something of an unique double for Brian O'Connell's Chasefield Stables.
The Kilkenny farm run by the Grade 1-winning jockey and wife Donna was the source of two impressive and successful fillies who represent different strands of the business they are engaged in.
Purple Lily's winning debut in the fillies' maiden, which includes subsequent Group 1 winners Tahiyra, Hermosa and Legatissimo on its roll of honour, with Tahiyra's multiple Group 1-winning half-sister Tarnawa also third to Hermosa in the race, was a notable one for O'Connell's fledgling breeze-up operation.
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