Current Option and Gavin Ryan (left) win the 'Ahonoora' Handicap at Galway© Photo Healy Racing
The roars of the crowd at this year’s Galway Festival were provided by Ado McGuinness and his assistant Stephen Thorne as they cheered home Premier Handicap winners Saltonstall and Current Option The Lusk Co.Dublin trainer sends the latter back into action again at Cork today in the Listed Platinum Stakes over seven furlongs.
The Camelot gelding, acquired from William Haggas last year, has had tremendous success in valuable handicaps for current connections.
He followed up a close second in the Tote Irish Cambridgeshire by landing the Sovereign Path Handicap at Leopardstown’s Champions Weekend fixture in September.
This term he was runner-up at the Curragh on Derby Day before winning the Ahonoora Handicap under in-form Gavin Ryan last Sunday on what was his second outing of race week at Galway.
Ryan keeps the ride as the 4-year-old takes his chance in Stakes company this afternoon.
“Current Option runs in the Platinum Stakes at Cork, said McGuinness
“We weren’t going to. We had ridden him out all week and he had a couple of days on the beach. My son rides him out and said he felt really good on Thursday morning.
“We still weren’t going to run but when we saw that a few had pulled out and we were one of the highest rated horses in the race, and the form he’s in, we were happy to go and take our chance.
“I haven’t won a Listed race yet even though we have had plenty of Premier Handicap horses. It’s great to have a horse like him to run in these races.
“It’s his trip and it’s a good opportunity. We were going to wait for three weeks but we decided to take our chance when it was there and we might as well rattle on while he’s in good form.
Of his Colm Quinn BMW Mile Handicap scorer Saltonstall, who was also ridden to victory by the Festival’s leading Flat rider Ryan, McGuinness said: “Saltonstall is entered in the Group 3 (Clipper Logistics Desmond Stakes) at Leopardstown next week. We’ll do a little bit with him and make a decision then.
“He’s rated 104 now and we’ll make an entry in one of the big handicaps on Champions Weekend as well.
"The handicaps are quite compressed and when you are not giving away a stone and a half it gives you a great chance.”
