Dundalk fan Pat Murphy enjoys his moment in the spotlight with Pempie

The first of four Dundalk fixtures added to the calendar by Horse Racing Ireland to cater for the backlog of low-grade horses starved of competition took place on Monday.

It was therefore fitting that it was Pat Murphy, a man who has made Dundalk a happy hunting ground in recent years, who was dining out with a winner after Pempie produced an improved performance to take the second division of the 1m4f handicap under Chris Hayes.

“We have a good record up here,” Murphy said. “She wasn't actually being trained for this place but sometimes that's the way things work out with horses getting injuries or maybe things not working out during the summer, so it's great to have Dundalk as an option. It's a brilliant facility and we are delighted to come here,” he added.

More from Monday's racing:

Hawthorn Cottage disqualified and Barry suspended after rider fails to weigh in

'An enormous tragedy' – poignant winner for Maxwell after driver's Covid death

'I couldn't believe he was 25-1' – trainer Olly Murphy on his big-priced winner

The win completed a quick double for Hayes and was a 16th all told for Murphy at Dundalk. The trainer also revealed that Pempie, a well-bred daughter of Lope De Vega, would be sales bound but that there may be a bit of fun to be had first.

Murphy added: "She had a wind operation after her run at Cork and we gave her a bit of a break. We tried her back over the mile – she thinks she's faster than she is at home – but maybe we were trying to be a bit to clever as she's obviously better over further.

“She's well bred and is entered in the February sales, but maybe we will get to hold onto her a bit longer now.”

Relief for McConnell

John McConnell’s spell of seconditis was broken in the first division of the 2m handicap courtesy of Falak, who was punched out by Colin Keane to give the champion jockey a first winner of 2021.

McConnell said: “I've had four seconds in the last two days, so there were a lot of cats being kicked.”

He added: “Falak is genuine and he stays well, so Colin made plenty of use of him in the straight. I just wish we could go to Wolverhampton or Newcastle with him and mop up another couple of two-mile races. There are not too many here. He'll probably mix it over both codes in the summer.”

Results, replays and analysis

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