'He deserves all of the good things he gets' - Wesley Joyce winning comeback run goes on

The comeback trail continued for Wesley Joyce at Navan where he rode his third winner in four days.

He partnered Lia Fail to a battling victory in the feature race for two-year-olds, his second winner at the track in two days.

In a tight four-runner contest, Joyce made the running before fighting off all challenges on the climb to the line to win by a short-head from Megarry with Storm Miami a half-length away in third.

It was emotional for winning trainer Mick Mulvany because it was a fall from his charge Red Heel at Galway last year which left Joyce with the injuries that kept him on the sidelines for a year. 

Mulvany said: "I'm just delighted for him. He is such a nice young fella. When he was with us, I couldn't say enough good things about him. He deserves all of the good things he gets."

About his filly, Mulvany added: "Wesley thought she was still a little green. The handicapper had them very much right. She is entered in a similar race at Cork next week with the same conditions as this one. We will see how she is but we might have another go."

Roberts strikes for Meade

The opening fillies' auction maiden produced one of the closest finishes of the day, as Colin Keane got the required reaction from the twice-raced Kiki Roberts as her experience proved important when edging out front-running newcomer Go Girl Go by a head.

Noel Meade, who trains the filly for his wife Derville, said: "We bought her very cheaply but she has not stopped improving since the day we got her. She's growing and filling out. Some Americans wanted to buy her after her last run but we decided not to sell. It was nice that she went and won.

"She was tough today and stays well. She is in a valuable sales race at Naas at the end of the season but the ground might have gone for her at that stage."

Rat by a whisker

Andy Oliver's good sprinter The Highway Rat had always looked that bit better on Polytrack, but showed his worth on turf for the first time as he emerged victorious under Billy Lee in the second of the sprint handicaps, holding off favourite Silmaniya by a half-length.

Oliver said: "He had a very nice run on the opening day [of the season] at the Curragh, which we thought was on very unsuitable heavy ground. He was beaten off top weight and we were delighted, and we thought this was his season. Then he had a setback and we are just getting him out now.

"We thought he was plenty short of work for today, but he did that well and Billy was delighted with him. It all went straightforward and to plan."

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