'The stars have aligned' - trainer Michael Keady's first runner in his own name is a winner at Southwell

Michael Keady enjoyed the best possible start to his solo training career when Currumbin, the first runner in his own name, landed the feature 1m6f handicap.

Keady shared a licence with Bedfordshire-based Mike Murphy for two and a half years before branching out on his own when securing a year’s lease on David Simcock’s former second yard at Revida Place on Newmarket’s Hamilton Road last month.

Currumbin had been winless in his first 12 starts but it was a case of lucky 13 for connections as the three-year-old provided jockey Kieran Shoemark with his 100th winner of the season in Britain. 

It was also the perfect birthday present for the Apollo ownership group’s Daniel Tuckwell, and Keady said: “My best friend Dan, who runs the syndicate, is 36 today, although he looks 21 now!

“The last winner I had for him was Northcliff, who won at Ascot. That was in May and although we haven’t had many runners, it felt a long time coming.”

Keady’s breakthrough victory was anything but a long time coming and he added: “We said this morning it’d be too good to be true but we knew we had the horse ready to go. 

“Kieran is a friend of mine and got his 100th winner up for the year and my first winner under my own name – it feels like the stars have aligned. We might take the lads from the yard out for a pint later on but it’ll be quiet enough."

Shoemark swiftly moved to 101 winners for his career-best campaign when helping the Simcock-trained Charlie's Choice justify 15-8 favouritism in the following 1m3f handicap. 

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