It wasn’t a day the punters will want to remember, as they had to wait for Aunt Aggie in the sixth race for a winning favourite at Navan this afternoon. Aunt Aggie was a comfortable winner of the valuable Kemper Insurance Handicap Hurdle under Barry Geraghty. The Edward O’Grady trained mare received a confident ride from the in-form jockey to win by two and-a-half lengths from Hill Society.
John Oxx’s Taraza opened at 6/4 but drifted out to 4/1 in the Fillies Maiden. One of a number of runners inconvenienced by slow opening stalls, Taraza upped the tempo under Johnny Murtagh inside the last two furlongs to win at her ease from Ballerine. Taraza will now be moved up to a mile-and-half in listed company.
Easiest winner of the day was Coq de Mirande in the Navan Welcomes Chase. He was a distance clear at the second fence and the race was effectively ended when remote second and favourite Embellished fell down the back.
County Waterford apprentice Jane Mulqueen had her fourth winner when bringing Peruvian Athlete home the winner of the opener while local lad Josh Byrne had his second winner since returning from England when taking the handicap hurdle on board the Pat Hughes-trained Samasakhan.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
