TIERMANA HUNTS DOWN RIVALS IN SEAN SCULLY MEMORIAL

Peter Farrell

There was a handsome €2,000 on offer at Galway Stadium on Friday night as the final of the Sean Scully Memorial A5/A6 525 took centre stage and it went the way of Tiermana Hunter as the young pretender made it three wins from just seven starts.

Trained by Colm Fitzgerald for the Supping-Away-Syndicate, Tiermana Hunter came into the event as one of the fancied runners after running out a solid winner of his semi final last time out. Given his inexperience as an October puppy, he was expected to improve with each and every outing and he certainly stepped up to the plate to land what was a hot contest on the night. 

Running from trap three, the 2/1 chance was headed early on by both Petes Noah and Hanover Luna, however, showed serious early speed to take ownership of the inside and lead. In doing so, ‘Hunter’ carried a lead of just over one length into the back straight and he galloped out brilliantly to create further daylight over Hanover Luna, who raced past Petes Noah to improve into second. At this point, Tiermana Hunter looked home and hosed but Hanover Luna was beginning to turn the screw rounding the bottom two bends and patrons were in for a thrilling finish as a result. Not to be outdone however; Tiermana Hunter showed excellent determination to stay on well up the stiff Galway hill and just cross the line with one length to spare from a gallant runner-up in the shape of Hanover Luna. The time was 29.41 .10s and many thanks are extended to the family and friends of Sean Scully for their generous sponsorship of this event. 

SPRINT DOUBLE FOR GUILFOYLE KENNEL

Aside from the feature event, there was a lovely performance in the opening semi final of the This Runs Deep ON2/ON3 350 as Magical Millie made it back-to-back wins. 

A winner on debut in 19.31, the daughter of the great Magical Mary went to traps at odds of 2/5 and she showed awesome early speed to shoot clear on the run-up. In doing so, ‘Millie’ drew clear of her rivals to cross the line with six and a half lengths to spare over Highview John in second. The time was a rapid 19.18 .5s. In the second semi final, Spark Of Magic made it a quickfire double for Patrick Guilfoyle as he too justified short odds of 4/9. Taking charge on the run-up from trap two, the son of Ballymac Cashout and Burgess Sarah built on a super performance on debut to cross the line two and a half lengths clear of Heathlawn Storm in second. The time was 19.36 .5s and these two will go head-to-head in the final next weekend, which should make for thrilling viewing.