KEANO ON FIRE AT BUSY KILKENNY

Ian Fortune

The new facilities at Kilkenny are certainly proving popular with Friday’s card attracting another bumper crowd and a festive atmosphere in the newly appointed bar. On the track, the star of proceedings was Hollyhill Keano as he landed the Dominic McMonagle Memorial A3 525 for Paraic Campion and Ger Gubbins.

A 5-2 chance ahead of the race, he broke smartly from trap four and found himself in front from the outset. It was all very easy thereafter with the odds-on favourite Lemon Mundy missing the start and finding early traffic.

It scarcely mattered as Hollyhill Keano had already set sail for home. The son of Burgess Bucks and Hollyhill Fifi powered away to eventually see off Lemon Reba by nine lengths in 29.40 (rated .40 slow).