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Choice gains deserved success

Lindas Choice and Ricky DoyleLindas Choice and Ricky Doyle
© Photo Healy Racing

Ricky Doyle gave Lindas Choice a strong drive to land the two-mile handicap hurdle at Wexford.

The Homer Scott-trained mare was gaining a deserved success after a run of three-placed efforts. She tracked leader Hard Fought before hitting the front two from home.

Doyle, riding his second winner over jumps, kept his mount going in the closing stages to post a length-and-three-quarters success over 9/4 favourite Chief Of Panama

The 5/1 winner was a welcome victory for the Castledermot handler, whose last success had been in January 2010.

The mare is owned by Martin McGuane and Patrick Digan, who both live in Castledermot, and McGuane said afterwards: -

"We didn't know whether a win would ever come! She was placed a few times and was going up a bit in the weights so we weren't sure.

“She is an honest filly and she has a great pedigree, she is a half-sister to ten winners. We were just hoping to get her off the mark and we are delighted now.

“She will have a couple of weeks off now and then we will see where to go. We bought her at the sales as an unbroken five-year-old for handy money.

“We could never get a few runs together into her, there was always some hiccup with her but she just came to herself at Listowel this year and has kept improving."

(Additional reporting by Donal Murphy)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.