GALERON ENSURED the majority of the huge prize-money up for grabs in the Goffs Million would head back across the Irish Sea with a clear-cut victory at the Curragh.
A total prize fund of over €1.2millon was actually up for grabs in the seven-furlong contest and 19 juveniles went to post.
Galeron, trained by Charlie Hills, finished down the field in both the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood and the Gimcrack at York during the summer, before placing fourth in a valuable sales race at Doncaster.
Ridden by Shane Foley for his Kildare assignment, the Camacho colt travelled strongly and had enough in reserve at the finish to repel the challenge of Johnny Murtagh’s Hellsing by half a length – earning his connections just over €600,000.
🏝️ Small Oasis 🏝️
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) September 24, 2022
The @WilliamHill-sponsored @IrishEBF_ Maiden @curraghrace looked a hot race - at least on paper.
Michael Grassick's 2yo daughter of Sioux Nation made a mockery of that theory under @gavinmryan 👀 pic.twitter.com/gGMisNOQm6
Hills said: “It’s fantastic and I’m so pleased for Leanne and Gary (Robinson, owners). They are new into the sport and they are very quick learners.
“The seem to have really embraced the sport and having a win like that is huge.”
Gary Robinson added: “That’s absolutely amazing and we’re really pleased. We bought this horse last year from Charlie. I’m pretty new to owning racehorses, about 18 months in, and I wanted a couple of Flat horses for the summer as I prefer jumps myself.
“Over half-term last year I was sat at Newbury having a pint with Charlie and we were looking at the horses he had. He said ‘I’ve got this horse that qualifies for the Goffs Million’, I didn’t really understand what the Goffs Million was.
“We set out to run him here, we’ve run him here and this morning we were saying that anything better than ninth and it’ll cover the cost of bringing him and actually he’s won!
“I vaguely remember agreeing to take Charlie and his wife to Vegas if he won and that looks like it’s going to happen now. I think there will be a big party in Dublin tonight!
“The name of the horse is Galeron and we named him after myself, my wife Leanne and my daughter Ronnie. He’s the first horse that we named.
“We’ve had winners before but nothing as big as this. I think the biggest win I had before was in a £25,000 race so we’re talking different numbers now.”
Trainer Michael Grassick was left dreaming of a potential tilt at Classic glory with Small Oasis following a thoroughly impressive display in the opening race of the day.
A promising third on her racecourse debut at Naas last week, the daughter of Sioux Nation was an 8-1 shot as she turned out just nine days later for the William Hill Free Or 4 Irish EBF Maiden.
Taking on the colts, Small Oasis displayed a smart change of gear under Gavin Ryan to quicken four and three-quarter lengths clear of Ardad’s Great, with 6-5 favourite New Image a disappointing fifth.
“It’s nice to have an exciting one,” said Grassick.
“We were surprised she ran as green as she did at Naas but she finished it off well. You could see then she never really got into top gear at all.
“She was working well, and we liked her, but I don’t dip the tank at home. I like to just bring them on, but nowadays you seem to get lost when you go to the races like that as everyone has them so finely tuned.
“We thought she’d have a chance of winning today but didn’t think she’d win like that. I think she really appreciates a bit of juice in the ground.
“Thank God we stuck her in the (Irish) 1,000 Guineas the other day. We had her in Sunday’s Weld Park Stakes, but took her out in the last five minutes and said we’d try and win a maiden first. I think she probably could have won it off that performance.
“We’ll try and find a black type race race now for her. She’ll stay seven furlongs.”
Meawnhile, Paul Nolan is keeping his fingers crossed HMS Seahorse can bag some of the huge prize-money on offer in the Friends Of The Curragh Irish Cesarewitch at the Curragh on Sunday.
Fourth in the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March, and subsequently third in a Grade One at Punchestown, the former Aidan O’Brien inmate bolted up on his return to the Flat at the Curragh in June – earning him a hefty 19lb rise in the ratings.
He was beaten at cramped odds back over obstacles at the Galway Festival on his most recent outing and Nolan is hoping he can bounce back in Sunday’s €600,000 feature.
He said: “He’s in good form and I suppose the way he acted on the soft ground at the Curragh the last day, the more rain the better.
“His run in Galway you’d have to say was a bit disappointing, but in saying that the trip was probably a bit short and there was no pace, so I’d rather put a line through that.
“The 19lb penalty is probably as big a penalty as you could get, so we’ll see how he copes with that. It’s very seldom you see a horse getting that much of a whack, so hopefully the handicapper is right.
“No matter what happens, in fairness to the little horse he’s paid his way so far. There’s massive prize-money on offer and hopefully he’ll get some of it.”
