Irish Flat jockey Seamie Heffernan is one of the most experience pilots around and spent a lot of time with the Ballydoyle camp, but it has to be interesting that the veteran rider will head to Ayr Racecourse for the first time ever on Monday to ride two Irish horses from two different yards! Read on for more information.
The first of Heffernan’s rides looks like a penalty kick as the Fozzy Stack runner Thesecretadversary should comfortably take the opening 7f maiden. The son of St Mark’s Basilica found a Ballydoyle inmate in Italy too strong when second at Leopardstown on his debut over this trip in May, before going on the fill the same position when second in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, finding only Humidity too strong in the finish. Thesecretadversary holds a Group 1 entry so he is clearly highly regarded and it will be a major shock if he isn’t up to landing this contest. It’s a nice bit of placement by connections and he’s likely to go off a very short price.
Heffernan’s second and final ride of the day is aboard the Daniel James Murphy runner Alhather in the following 6f handicap. The 4yo son of Kodiac was last seen finishing tailed off in a Dundalk claimer on his final start for the O’Neill stable, but this will be his first run for this stable and he could be a threat after a decent break. He posted some decent efforts when trained in Britain by Andrew Balding and this will be his first handicap start and also his first start on grass, so perhaps we will see a big run.
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