To a lot of racegoers at Navan the success of Afram Blue in division two of the thetote.com Handicap Hurdle will have come as a surprise but for those that backed him from 33/1 this morning into 16/1 the win for Niall Madden's mount will have made perfect sense. Aladdins Cave was a well-backed favourite for this two and a half miler, Lisrose (later found to be lame and coughing) was punted for the event this morning, but that pair, and the rest couldn't cope with the Maura McGuinness-trained victor when he struck on from after two out to beat Brookville by three and a quarter lengths.

Miss McGuinness, based in Kells, was absent as she is looking at horses in France.

Her representative Josh Byrne said: "He'd been working well at home with a horse rated 115 (Hawk Flight), finishing upsides him.

"The ground is the key to him, he wants it even firmer than that.

"He's a summer horse and he'll go chasing eventually. He's a very honest horse."

Afram Blue has now won two on the level and now as many over timber. He cost 13,000 guineas off the flat back in October 2008.

Gabriel Finnegan, representing the winning trainer, explained to the stewards that fast underfoot conditions were a big factor in the success and they noted that explanation. (MG & EM)