Rocky’s Diamond won the 6:48 Joe Cooney Memorial Hurdle at Kilbeggan at 10/11, proving class the trump card under Michael Kenneally for Declan Queally as the hat-trick-seeking Pets Georgina was beaten out of the frame.
| Pos | Horse | Jockey | SP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Rocky’s Diamond | Michael Kenneally | 10/11F |
| 2nd | Rememberwhat | Cian Cullinan | 50/1 |
| 3rd | Drumgill | Daniel King | 5/1 |
Five ran over the three miles and a furlong on good ground, with 50/1 outsider Rememberwhat a length and a quarter away second and Drumgill three-quarters of a length back in third.
The Race Story
Sometimes the ratings book is right. Rocky’s Diamond, a former Grade 2 winner rated 148 over hurdles, was dropping into a midsummer conditions event off the back of a Galway pull-up — and on the figures he had stones in hand if he bounced back. He did. Kenneally kept the eight-year-old wide of trouble, moved him upsides turning in and the response was emphatic up the Kilbeggan hill. The story of the race, though, was the one who wasn’t there at the finish: Pets Georgina, winner of her last two and odds-on at 4/5 in the morning to complete the hat-trick for John Patrick Ryan, surrendered favouritism before the off and trailed home out of the first three, her supporters beaten long before the last. Ryan’s other runner Drumgill at least picked up the pieces in third.
Tipster Accountability
A tale of two lines in our Kilbeggan preview: the verdict sided with Pets Georgina and went down with her — the third leg of the site’s Kilbeggan acca, already dead after Syosset’s defeat in the 5:48 — but the value paragraph called Rocky’s Diamond “the clear class angle” at 2/1, and the class angle won. None of the tracked tipsters in today’s tipster review had a bet in the race.
Looking Ahead
The 7:18 Smiddys Pub Mullingar Handicap Chase is next, where the progressive Anodandawink — 6/4 this morning with claimer Peter Smithers taking off 7lb — meets dual course scorer Mistyburn, before the €25,000 KEPAK Handicap Chase feature at 7:48, in which Rexem was our 6/1 each-way play. Earlier on the card, Cooladdi made amends in the 6:18 maiden hurdle.
