Niall McCullagh had an up and down 45 minutes at the start of Navan yesterday, getting disqualified from first place in the opener, picking up a three-day ban because of it and then scoring on Stillanall in the second contest.
McCullagh performed a dramatic escape from the rail on the Jim Bolger-trained Tushna a furlong out in the nursery but the manoeuvre resulted in a concertina effect on his outside.
With just a head to spare over Reptar, the subsequent stewards' inquiry was always going to be questionable for Tushna, and the first two placings were reversed. McCullagh's suspension was for "careless" riding.
The inquiry resulted in a 15-minute delay in the start of the Carlanstown Handicap but Stillanall's three-quarter length defeat of Emotions High was thankfully less dramatic for McCullagh.
Michael Kinane tightened his grip on another jockeys' title in front of a 1,240 attendance with a double on the newcomer, Urban Hymn, who beat off the odds-on Balla Sola in the Donaghpatrick Race, and McCracken who finally got off the mark in the Clonmellon Maiden.
McCracken has been placed umpteen times this season but Kinane worked the oracle to get him home two lengths ahead of Sinndiya.
"That's not Charlie's McCracken. It's Henry Joy's!" quipped the owner's wife, Eileen Brennan, and Noel Meade said that the gelding will be sent hurdling this winter.
Urban Hymn has had a series of niggling problems that delayed his debut but there was no evidence of them as he had too many guns for Balla Sola, who appeared to be cantering two furlongs out. Urban Hymn now goes to the sales at Newmarket on Monday.
Kinane, however, got it wrong in the Kilcarn Maiden when electing to ride the well backed Slip Sliding, But he had to take a distant view of another Aidan O'Brien-trained filly in Chiang Mai, who continued apprentice Paul Scallan's recent purple patch. The winner paid almost 25 to 1 on the Tote.
Noel Meade completed his own double in the last with Native Dara, who provided Paul Carberry with a rare recent winner on the flat after sprinting clear in the final furlong in the Kilnaleck Maiden.
