CHANGE OF LUCK FOR IRISH SALLY

By Graham Potter | Monday, January 15, 2024

Irish Sally, a four-year-old Vancouver mare, was one of the three Corey and Kylie Geran trained runners who finished second on the King Of The Mountain race-day.
She had also finished second in her previous start ... a first-up run on December 16 ... with both of these runs coming over 1300m at Toowoomba, so it would be fair to say a win was imminent.

With that lead-up, particularly coming from a horse who had won over 1650m and 1625m in her previous preparation ... she in fact went on to contest the Group 2, The Roses over 2000m on May 20 during the Winter Carnival before being allowed a seven month layoff until her December 16 return ... the step up from 1300m to 1500m in a Class 2 Handicap at Warwick on January 15 seemed to be her race for the taking on paper and she duly started favourite at $3.10.

But ... Irish Sally had a market rival in the form of Kubwa ($3.80), who similarly had finished runner-up in the race leading into this contest ... and he would prove to be more than just a market rival with Irish Sally’s 3kg weight advantage over Kubwa arguably being a vital factor in a nail-biting outcome.

Both of these runners came from off the pace to contest a rousing finish, Irish Sally, under Karl Zechner chasing hard down the centre of the track while Kubwa, under Justin Huxtable, initially switched inside before coming out again before the two runners went to the line seemingly locked together with Irish Sally literally getting the nod in with the very last stride.

The result could not have been any closer but, then again, it doesn’t matter how much you win by.

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