'Everybody had a fair chance' - new cutaway rail at Leopardstown gets thumbs up

The new cutaway rail at Leopardstown received mainly positive feedback from jockeys and trainers on Saturday including Jessica Harrington, who was convinced it gave everyone a fair chance and should have been introduced years ago.

The cutaway rail, which was positioned just over two furlongs out for Saturday's eight-race card, was trialled in the wake of criticism on Irish Champions Weekend when hot favourite Mother Earth was left with nowhere to go in the Matron Stakes, with Shane Foley handed a five-day ban for careless riding for his involvement on winner No Speak Alexander.

Harrington, who won the opening maiden on Saturday's card with Villanova Queen, was full of praise for the new venture.

She said: "I've been wanting them to have one here for years. It threw them all out wide and everybody had a fair chance. It just looked like everybody was able to get a fair run. They were lovely and spread out and nobody was knocking anybody over. I'm a big fan of it."

Shane Crosse got to see both sides of the coin in the first two races on the card. He rode Above The Curve in the opener, who made up a lot of ground from the rear to finish third before winning the mile maiden on Good Heavens, having always been prominent.

'It worked well' - Shane Crosse happy with the change after winning on Good HeavensCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Crosse said: "I think it worked well. I rode a filly in the opening maiden that was probably a shade slow and it gave her time to respond up the straight. Whether or not there is going to be much pace in races now I don't know, but it gives jockeys options and there won't be a lot of hard-luck stories anymore.

"The minute you come off the bend, you keep out. It's usually the last quarter of the field that might go for a gap up the inside. It seems very fair and I certainly don't have a problem with it."

The experienced Seamie Heffernan won the feature Killavullan Stakes on Glounthaune and while he was not waxing lyrical about the cutaway rail, he claimed it was a case of so far so good.

Heffernan said: "It helped me on Glounthaune. I'd say 50 per cent of the time it will be an advantage and 50 per cent of the time it will be a disadvantage. We're going to trial it anyway and see how it goes. All changes are not always good, but it's good at the moment and let's see if it stays that way."

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