'He's a smashing horse' - Hightimeyouwon leads home McGuinness one-two

Wednesday: Dundalk

Ado McGuinness could not have started the year in better fashion when he saddled a one-two in the feature 7f handicap, with the ex-Dermot Weld-trained Hightimeyouwon returning to winning ways.

Winner of a premier handicap at Cork in 2021 for Weld, he also went close in the Scurry Handicap and the Bold Lad Handicap the same year, going up to a mark of 92. A loss of form last season saw his handicap mark plummet to 72 and he raced off 74 here.

On his third run for McGuinness he stayed on strongly once hitting the front under Cian MacRedmond and was always holding the late effort of stablemate Hodd's Girl.

"The handicapper had him exactly right today," said McGuinness. "He was drawn wide, which was a real killer, so we just put the visor on him to make sure he went forward and I think that won the race for him.

"He's a smashing horse and I would say he'll be a better horse on turf. He might get a break now and come back for the grass."

O'Leary forecast

A similar start was made by trainer Ger O'Leary, who saddled Mehman and Primo Uomo to fill the first two places in the opening sprint handicap, with Mark Enright just pipping Niall McCullagh close home.

"Mehman is a horse we've always loved, he shows a lot of class and speed. He could well be better than this grade but he is so big that he has just needed time," said assistant trainer Adrian Joyce.

Cheers follows up

A 16lb hike for landing a touch in a handicap here before Christmas was treated with some contempt by the Paul Flynn-trained Cheers Again when he landed the mile apprentice handicap with even greater ease.

Jack Cleary's mount could have been called the winner a long way out. The four-year-old went clear inside the final furlong to score by four lengths from the staying-on Reverberation, and it took Cleary a long time to pull him up afterwards.

Stepping up one or possibly two grades of handicap probably awaits the son of Mukhadram now, with a similar hike in the ratings expected. Flynn was even rueing how far he won. He said: "I was hoping to stay below 70 as there's a handicap at Leopardstown in April I was looking at, but I'll have to find something else now!"

Water shortage

A burst main meant there was no running water in the kitchens and shower facilities for jockeys. However, the stable yard was unaffected as the track has an independent water supply for that purpose, and that was also utilised for toilets in the grandstand.

Chief executive Jim Martin said: "A local main burst at around 9am and they are going to have to dig up the road to get at it. They will hopefully have it back later this evening and definitely for Friday."

Results, replays and analysis

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