getting up by a head under a good drive by Brian O’Connell. Second was Elliott’s Leomar (3/1) and third was Tree of Knowledge for Joseph O’Brien.
‘It’s taken a while for the penny to drop. He’s very babyish and backward but every race he’s taking a huge step forward,’ she said. This might be one to stick in the notebook.
The feature of the day was the €26,000 Arctic Tack Stud Veterans’ Chase for nine-year-olds and over, and it went to the powerful Willie Mullins yard, but not with the horse expected.
Winner was The Paparrazi Kid (8/1), ridden by Katie O’Farrell for the Byerley Racing Syndicate, the horse’s first win for over three years though he was second in the Galway Plate and fourth in the Kerry National in 2015.
He held off the late effort of Lisclogher Lad (13/2) by a neck, with the Mullins favourite, The Crafty Butcher (a drifting 7/2), back in third under Brian Hayes.
Arthur Moore has quite a good record around Bettyville and he struck again in the LAD, Murform, McCrea & Raptic maiden hurdle, with Crossed My Mind (5/2) being a handy winner for Jody McGarvey, over Paul Nolan’s well-backed Monotype (9/4), under Ger Fox for John Brennan.
Third was Finnegan’s Hollow (25/1), under Brian Hayes for owner, Henry Cleary, and trainer Gordon Doyle from Knockmullen, New Ross.
The Barry Ennis Memorial Hurdle was won by Jefferson Davis (14/1), ridden by Brian O’Connell for Eoin Doyle, Mooncoin, giving the jockey a 254/1 double with his earlier success on Delface.
The €16,500 Eoin O’Gorman Solicitors novice chase went to the prolific Capture The Drama (4/1), under Andrew Ring for owner/trainer Aengus King from Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co. Clare. This was the horse’s sixth win of the year, having also collected at Wexford last November, all of them under Ring.
They race again at Wexford on Friday evening April 7, and here’s hoping for nicer weather and a few more fancied winners.