Laois trained horse gallops to victory in The Curragh as racing resumes

Sport is slowly starting to emerge from the Coronavirus shutdown and a Laois trained horse enjoyed victory at the weekend.

Horse racing is taking place without spectators at the weekend but that didn’t stop Laois success on The Curragh on Saturday.

7/2 favourite Strong Johnson won the Platinum Bloodstock and Eyrefield Handicap for Portarlington trainer Kieran Cotter.

The horse began prominently on the stand side in the five furlong event and hit the front 150 yards from the finish.

Strong Johnson, under jockey Colin Keane, kept on well to see off Son and Sannie by almost two lengths to claim the €5,900 first prize.

It capped off a decent week for Cotter’s yard as Fridtjof Nansen came third at odds of 25/1 in the Equine MediRecord Handicap in The Curragh on Friday.

The Cotters are very well known in Laois as Kieran’s wife Deirdre is a teacher in Portlaoise CBS and his daughter Mary plays football for St Conleth’s and the Laois Ladies.

Speaking to irishracing.com, trainer Kieran spoke about plans for an expansion of his premises.

He said: “He’s a fine horse and he’s progressed from three.

“We’d a winner here last year at the Guineas meeting so it’s great to get another one and things are going well.

“For us we have a decent yard of horses with 18 in. We’re planning to build a new barn and we’re getting there.

“We have a few nice horses to run and we’re looking forward to this fella.”

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source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2020/06/16/laois-trained-horse-gallops-to-victory-in-the-curragh-as-racing-resumes/