Curragh Report:An instant millionaire from each side of the Irish Sea was the perfect outcome for Goffs in yesterday's hugely valuable Parknasilla Hotel Million races at the Curragh, where the home filly Lush Lashes made possibly the most lucrative winning debut in racing history.
The Jim Bolger-trained runner was the sole newcomer in the Fillies Million, but inexperience proved no barrier as she powered a length-and-a-half clear of Rinterval, with the 25 to 1 outsider Carribean Sunset in third.
After collecting a cheque for a cool million, Bolger revealed that this latest product of the star stallion Galileo, an €80,000 purchase last October, only just made it to the race, which made her performance all the more impressive.
"We couldn't have started her a day sooner as she has had some small problems and she got a shin a month ago," said the former champion trainer, who has hit the Group One mark this year with his other star fillies, Finsceal Beo and Saoirse Abu. Asked how yesterday's valuable success fitted in with those victories, he replied: "Fairly comfortably!"
Rinterval's rider, Jimmy Fortune, had to make do with a €300,000 second pot, but had no excuses and said: "You've got to take your hat off to the winner. It was her first race and that's a hard thing to do in a race of this standard."
Fortune's weighroom colleague, Richard Quinn, returned from retirement earlier this season, and it paid off in style with the most valuable win of his career as the favourite, Luck Money, decisively secured the €1 million first prize in the colts race.
It was a cross-sea clean sweep here, as Hitchens and Major Willy followed home the winner, with Lisvale best of the Irish in fourth.
"Absolutely it's a nice way to come back," grinned Quinn.
"He was a close third to Henrythenavigator in the Coventry at Royal Ascot, so he has got that sort of class. We didn't have a great draw, but I rode him positively, as if he stayed, even though it was his first time at seven furlongs. It was pretty straight-forward really."
So straight-forward that Luck Money remains unchanged as a 20 to 1 shot in some lists for next year's 2,000 Guineas, the same price as Lush Lashes is for the Newmarket 1,000.
However, both winners are now in line for a €1 million bonus if they can add next year's Irish Guineas classics to yesterday's wins.
Unlike last year's inaugural Million meeting, which was held on a Tuesday in conjunction with the Ryder Cup, yesterday's date attracted a crowd of only 6,431, which was substantially down from the 10,000 of 2006.
However, those who did attend Europe's richest race day got a finish to savour in the Group Two Irish National Stud Blandford Stakes, as Michael Kinane produced a vintage effort to get Four Sins home a short head in front of the favourite, Queen's Best.
"We thought this would be her best day of the year as the ground was right, so was the distance, and she was thriving," said trainer John Oxx.
"But we still needed the luck of a bobbing head on the line."
Fran Berry was out of luck in the big sales races, but the jockey landed the €100,000 Sportsman's Challenge, where Lucies Pride provided trainer Michael Halford with his first juvenile winner of the season. Berry then added the five furlong handicap with the English-trained Invincible Force.
