Ribee makes light work of Lincolnshire opposition

Ribee brought up a long-awaited hat-trick when routing the opposition in the Nua Healthcare Irish Lincolnshire at the Curragh.

Although finishing last season with wins at both Galway and Gowran in October, Michael Mulvany’s four-year-old was a somewhat unfancied 20-1 chance for the first major handicap of the Irish Flat turf season.

Travelling kindly throughout on testing ground he relishes for jockey Declan McDonogh, it appeared only a matter of time before he hit the front and once doing so, he was not for catching as he scorched to an uncontested length-and-a-half success over Eastwatch.

“In those conditions he’s a hard horse to beat,” said Mulvany.

“This has been the plan since last back-end and the Lincoln was always the goal.

“I’m delighted for the owner. He’s an owner/breeder and this is the first horse he bred so he had to keep him! He’s been lucky for him.

“I won the race before with On The Go Again (2018) and we knew this fellow would take a lot of beating.

“We booked Declan McDonogh as Gary Carroll couldn’t do the weight on him. I feel sorry for Wesley Joyce who is the stable jockey, but the owner wanted a senior lad on him so we went with Declan.

“He was travelling all the way and I was just a little worried that he had hit the front a bit early, but we knew he’d get the trip well.

“He’s a grand big horse and that’s what you want for those conditions out there.”

He added: “We’ll probably have to go again shortly. I said today we’d see how we were and after that we’ll worry about the next day.”