Poignantly named Corey's Courage maintains unbeaten record for connections

Friday: Doncaster

The Olly Murphy-trained Corey’s Courage provided connections with a fitting tribute in the 2m3f novice hurdle.

The six-year-old mare, who extended her unbeaten record to four, is named in memory of the grandson of Peter O’Niell, one half of A.P. Racing who own Corey’s Courage.

"It's a very sad story that he lost his life at a young age and it's why she is named after Corey," said Murphy.

"She goes to Kelso at the end of the month and I believe Corey passed away on the same weekend of that race, so it’s weird how things work out.

"The family have been racing a couple of times when she’s won and it means an awful lot for them, so it’s nice that she is winning for them."

The unbeaten mare was under a double penalty, but stepped up in trip from 2m to score by three and three-quarter lengths.

Murphy said: "I was cursing myself halfway round with the way she travelled because I thought I was doing the wrong thing when going up in trip, but she stayed well and she’d be versatile from two miles to two and a half.

"It’s great to keep her unbeaten. She travelled strong. There's room for improvement on the jumping side, but we’ll have a lot of fun with her."

Figaro on song

First Figaro made a winning return in the 3m handicap chase for trainer Venetia Williams after a 342-day layoff.

The 12-year-old, who has not run since the conditional jockeys’ series final in March last year, ended a winless run of 11 races for the trainer.

Results, replays and analysis

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