{"id":302649,"date":"2025-07-30T01:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T01:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/302649\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T01:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T01:26:13","slug":"natalia-lupini-secures-big-race-galway-festival-glory-as-dunum-holds-on-for-mile-success-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/302649\/","title":{"rendered":"Natalia Lupini secures big-race Galway festival glory as Dunum holds on for Mile success \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Via Milan and Down, Italian trainer Natalia Lupini secured big race glory at Galway on Tuesday evening when course specialist Dunum landed the Colm Quinn BMW Mile. <\/p>\n

Lupini, who first came to Ireland as a horse-mad teenager, now trains near Banbridge and secured the most valuable win of her career in dramatic fashion.<\/p>\n

Twice a festival winner over seven furlongs, Dunum was bounced out by veteran jockey Seamus Heffernan and he was gallant in making to hold off Bear Profit\u2019s late thrust by a head at 12\/1.<\/p>\n

For Heffernan, the 53-year-old multiple classic winner, it was a first success in Ballybrit\u2019s \u20ac120,000 Day Two festival feature. <\/p>\n

He was at his strongest to hold off the runner up\u2019s 17-year-old rider Nicola Burns and perhaps at his driest in declaring afterwards \u201cit was never in doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

With decades behind him as Aidan O\u2019Brien<\/a>\u2019s former Number 2 jockey, and global success topped by Anthony Van Dyck\u2019s 2019 Epsom Derby, Heffernan\u2019s certitude is clearly different level to most. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s won twice at Galway and when you know a horse handles the track it\u2019s a big plus,\u201d said Heffernan, who made a point of saying he\u2019s still loving the game.<\/p>\n

\"TrainerTrainer Natalia Lupini and jockey Seamie Heffernan after winning the Colm Quinn BMW Mile at Ballybrit. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

So too it seems does Dunum, who was winning for the seventh time in his career and could be back in Ballybrit at the weekend for the Ahonnora Handicap he won in 2023 and was third in last year. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe couldn\u2019t dismiss Galway and have been working towards both this race and the Ahonoora on Sunday,\u201d Lupini said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe did well today and Seamie is a great asset for a small yard like ours. Having a jockey of his calibre is a massive help.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horse usually jumps out smart, Seamie wasn\u2019t going to give away his position and the horse enjoyed himself. He loves the downhill run into the dip and he battled well towards the line,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Having had her interest in horses ignited by watching the famous Palio di Siena \u2013 where horses are ridden bareback around Siena square \u2013 Lupini first came to Ireland as a student. She returned to Italy to complete her studies but was back in 2012 and started training in 2016. <\/p>\n

Kildare-based trainer and trader Cormac Farrell is no stranger to a good result but seemed to particularly relish Sticktotheplan\u2019s 22\/1 success in the opening novice hurdle. <\/p>\n

Farrell\u2019s most profitable outcome this year was the \u20ac1.9 million paid to him by Godolphin for the subsequent winner Distant Storm at the Arqana Breeze Up Sales in May. The Irishman turned over a massive profit having picked up the colt as a yearling for just 90,000 guineas.<\/p>\n

Farrell called it \u201cthe stuff of dreams\u201d, but a Galway victory carried its own satisfaction. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe fancied him and had a few quid on as we\u2019ve always thought he was a very smart horse,\u201d he said. \u201cI tried to sell him on several occasions but nobody would buy him so I\u2019m delighted, as I\u2019ll be properly paid for him at some stage!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"20252025 Galway Racing Festival, Ballybrit, Galway 29\/7\/2025
\nJack Kennedy on King of Kingsfield on the way to winning the Beginners Steeplechase at Ballybrit. Photograph: Morgan Treacy\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Class won out in the Beginners Chase as King Of Kingsfield proved too quick for his opposition. Faced with My Great Mate and the Galway hill in front of him, Jack Kennedy\u2019s mount made light of both to win snugly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had a couple of hard races last year leading the mare around which was probably a bit unfair to the horse having to do the donkey work,\u201d Gordon Elliott said. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep him to fences now. I don\u2019t think he wants winter heavy ground but there are plenty of nice races to be won with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Murphy and Gary Carroll warmed up for a Nassau Stakes tilt with their Group One heroine Cercene at Goodwood on Thursday, when Pivotal Attack justified significant market support in the juvenile fillies maiden. <\/p>\n

Pivotal Attack stepped up appreciably for her Fairyhouse debut and took advantage of the favourite Amelia Earhart appearing to momentarily shy from the whip just after the turn in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where we\u2019ll go next but the curve will be upwards anyway,\u201d joked Murphy, who could have another very smart filly on his hands. \u201cShe is out of a Pivotal-mare and we think she is stakes class.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the caulfieldindustrial.com handicap, won by Summer Snow, apprentice jockey Dylan O\u2019Connor finished third on Expound but picked up a 16-day suspension for his use of the whip, his fourth such penalty. He also picked up another day having breached the rules regarding marker poles after the start.<\/p>\n

And there was rare festival dead-heat in the concluding handicap as Castleheath pounced in the final stride to match Heliogabalus.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s attendance of 13,306 was down slightly on last year\u2019s 13,680.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Via Milan and Down, Italian trainer Natalia Lupini secured big race glory at Galway on Tuesday evening when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[111588,1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-302649","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-galway-races","9":"tag-racing","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114939585097980405","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}