BEAUTY & EFENDI CLAIM CON MURPHY SEMIS AT LIMERICK

Peter Farrell

The semi-finals of the Con Murphy Bookmakers A1 525 were the feature on last night’s Limerick card, with Scattery Beauty continuing her impressive march towards the valuable prize with another polished display.

Owned by the Scattery Syndicate, Scattery Beauty was bidding for a third successive victory in the second semi-final following two outstanding performances in the earlier rounds, most notably her 28.57 clock on her previous outing. Despite a stacked line-up featuring several eye-catching heat winners, ‘Beauty’ once again underlined her credentials as the one to beat. Drawn in trap one, the slender 2/1 favourite broke well but was edged out in the early exchanges by Gortkelly John from trap two. However, the daughter of Ballymac Cashout – Work Your Head showed her class at the opener, nudging her rival aside to establish a one-length advantage heading into the back straight. From there, and given her strong-running style, the race appeared firmly in her grasp. In behind, Ballinabola Otis and Ballymac Riddick both recovered from tardy starts to move into qualifying contention and loomed as threats approaching the three-quarter mark. Scattery Beauty, however, maintained her advantage in the closing stages, railing tightly to cross the line two lengths clear of Ballinabola Otis, who again ran a huge race in second. Ballymac Riddick claimed the final qualifying berth in a time of 28.51.

The opening semi-final saw Zenith Efendi (4/1) put his rivals to the sword with an emphatic success for local handler Corona Ryan.

Jointly owned by Birol Nadir and Vincent Cooper, Zenith Efendi had previously been content with qualifying spots in the earlier rounds, but this time he proved several classes above the opposition, recording a commanding fifth career victory. Housed in trap three, the heavyweight was sharply away, disputing the early lead with Foxwood MacGowan from the inside. Despite taking a hefty bump at the opener, the son of Ballymac Cashout – Plain White Tea recovered well to open up a two-length advantage into the back straight from Jim By Two, with Clonnlloch Cliste tracking in third. While there was a battle unfolding behind, the outcome was never in doubt as Zenith Efendi powered clear in the closing stages, storming up the hill to score by a facile seven lengths. Clonnlloch Cliste stayed on well to secure second, with Foxwood MacGowan also running on strongly for third. The time was a smart 28.61.