Maol ‘Dhom-inates’ the Individual Pillow Challenge

Ok, it wasn’t really a ‘Dominant’ runaway, but the horse with the improbable name still let the sim-world know his sophomore season was going to be every bit as exciting as was his first.

Maol Dhomhnaigh(IRE) hung back a bit farther from the leaders than he’s done in the past, but it didn’t help the competition any. The pre-race favorite, a three year old son of Giant’s Causeway(IRE) merely flipped the switch a bit more than halfway through the 7 furlong Individual Pillow(IRE) Challenge Stakes and ran past his challengers.

As expected, Benevolent and Sound O Thunder fought for the early lead, and less than a length separated them til just past the halfway point when 2nd favorite 9/2 shot Flower of Scotland, who had been sitting right off of Sound O Thunder’s shoulder, passed him and pressed Benevolent for the lead. At that point, Sound O Thunder was done, but Benevolent held on a bit longer, when Maol Dhomhnaigh and 6/1 shot Hard Rock kicked it up and notch on the turn for home. Down the stretch was a dogfight, with a length and a half separating the first 4 horses, before Benevolent ran out of gas and faded.  Maol Dhomhnaigh and Hard Rock both ran down the game Flower of Scotland, but Maol Dhomhnaigh maintained his advantage over the even-running Rock Hard. Flower of Scotland held off a charging Maxwell for the show slot.