Repeater a first for Amanda Mooney

Dunboyne-based trainer Amanda Mooney was up early this morning to check on her first winner Repeater which stormed to victory at The Curragh yesterday.

'It was very exciting yesterday and I couldn't sleep so well last night, I was awake at at about 5am this morning and I went down the field in my pyjamas and wellies to check that he (Repeater) was okay,' she told the Meath Chronicle at about 10am this morning.

'It was really a bit like Christmas,' added the English woman who started training two years ago in Dunboyne where she is located close to Ballymacoll Stud.

She previously worked for Tony Martin and Tom Taaffe and yesterday was celebrating her first winner at The Curragh when Repeater won the concluding race on the card at the firts day of Guineas' meeting.

Repeater was cheered home by the bookies as the win by a short-head thwarted a gamble on 6/4 favourite Alveena to win the mile and a half handicap.

That gave the trainer, who is from close to Epsom in England, her first victory in a dramatic finish as Alveena looked to have seen off her 14 rivals entering the final furlong.

However, jockey Killian Leonard unleashed Repeater, formerly trained by David O'Meara, down the outside to win the valuable handicap with a first prize of €29,500.

'Repeater had heaps of problems with ulcers and kissing spines, but my vet, Liam Sharp from the Lisadell Equine Hospital near Navan, has done a great job,' she added.

'I took out a training licence a couple of years ago. I heve four in training, all my own, and that's my first winner.

'Repeater had been third in Leopardstown and second at Chester in his last two outings. He has a cob that travels everywhere with him for company, it's a great boost to win a big handicap,' she added.