Mumhan impresses for Jim Bolger in winning start at the Curragh

Jim Bolger unveiled a potentially smart newcomer at the Curragh on Saturday, as Mumhan made his racecourse debut a winning one in the Kildare House Hotel Irish EBF Maiden.

Leveraging made the early running before being headed by White Smoke as they moved inside the final furlong of the six-furlong event.

Mumhan timed his run to perfection as the 8-1 shot got up on the inside rail to pip White Smoke close home and win by half a length under Declan McDonagh.

“He’s a good horse and he just needed a bit of time,” said Bolger of the son of Mehmas.

“He’ll probably go for the Killavullan (Stakes, Leopardstown) and then I’ll have to find a race to make him champion two-year-old!

“He was very green and should improve.”

Gazelle d’Or demonstrated his love for the Curragh with a third course victory of the season in the HearMed Your Health, Your Hearing Joe McGrath Handicap.

Mint Man raced keenly and took up the early before hanging badly right and running in isolation along the far rail.

As Mint Man began to weaken, Michael Grassick’s daughter of Equiano took it up in the final furlong and was always doing enough in the hands of Chris Hayes as she held on to take the spoils at 9-1, a neck clear of Kendall Roy.

“This filly is a different filly over five. She was drawn one and she ends up over on the stands side, she lost a lot of ground to come over but she needs cover,” said Grassick.

“She just runs too keen over the six. She was a little bit unlucky in the Scurry and the last day, she probably should have been third or fourth the last day.

“She’s a hardy filly, I’d like to try to get a bit of black type with her. There are no five-furlong races, but I might look at the Listed race next weekend (Brigid’s Pastures Stakes).”

Engines On bowed out for the season on a high note with a three-quarters-of-a-length victory in the Schweppes Trophy Handicap.

John Kinsella’s five-year-old was only beaten into third by half a length in the Irish Cambridgeshire Trial last month but made no mistake on this occasion to complete a double for Hayes at 13-2.

“He had a great run in the Cambridgeshire,” said Kinsella.

“He won on his debut for us in Naas, over seven. We said we’d have a go at the Cambridgeshire, the ground probably wasn’t soft enough for him. He wants a dig in the ground.

“We ran him in Roscommon before the Cambridgeshire and he didn’t go at all on the ground, he was well beat that day.

“He came out of it grand though and everything was good. It was a good run in the Cambridgeshire and this was the plan since then.

“He’ll probably be put away now and we won’t make any plans just yet.”

Noel Meade’s Rowdy Yeats (10-1) came out on top in the McDonnell’s Bar Newbridge Rated Race after struggling on bottomless ground last time out at Roscommon.

Meade said: “The first day he ran he ran against Arizona Blaze and on his second run as a two-year-old Joe Murphy beat me with Cercene. So two Group One winners beat him on his two runs.

“He came out and won a six-furlong maiden and then he was beaten by a very good horse of Paddy Twomey’s in Cork (Currawood).

“Then I ran him over six and it was far too short for him. I’d say a mile would suit him even better, he (Colin Keane) said he was waiting for them there in front.

“He’s a very nice horse and there is a lot of racing in him. You love to have him, he’s a real nice horse and I’d say he can still go on quite a bit.”