LIMERICK jockey Billy Lee and Colin Keane are tied on 88 winners as the enthralling battle to be crowned Champion Flat Jockey heads to the Curragh tomorrow (Wednesday) where racing begins at 1.05pm.
Both men have picked up rides in six of the seven races open to them. In the first race of the day, the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Maiden reigning champion Keane partners the Michael Halford-trained Dromantine while Lee teams up with County Limerick trainer David Geary on Nightcliff.
Keane and Lee both sit out the second race but are in action again in race three, the Bet Builder at Novibet Handicap (2.15), with Keane on the Ger O’Leary-trained Fastar and Lee partnering Cnodian, a narrow runner-up at the course yesterday for Willie McCreery.
Ray Cody’s Recommendable is Keane’s mount in the Big Picture Communications Fillies Maiden (2.50) with Lee teaming up with the Michael Grassick-trained Indy System.
King Arthur’s Sword was a winner for Colin Keane and Michael O’Callaghan at Leopardstown on Saturday. They are reunited in the Play Novileague at Novibet Handicap (3.25) in which Lee rides two-time course winner Thefaithfulindian for another Curragh trainer, Aidan Howard.
Keane is back in the saddle on another of his season’s winners, the Gordon Elliott-trained Tronador, in the Extra Place Races at Novibet Handicap (4.00), with Lee set to partner Advantage Point for trainers Edward and Patrick Harty in the race.
In the Bet Responsibly at Novibet Handicap (4.35), Keane wraps up on Indiana Grey for trainer Pat Martin while Tim Doyle’s Wrist Art is Billy Lee’s final mount of the day.
The remaining Flat fixtures in the 2022 season are:
Dundalk: Friday, October 28; Galway: Monday, October 31; Dundalk: Wednesday, November 2; Dundalk: Friday, November 4; and Naas: Sunday, November 6
