Castle Field Boy won a battle with Rule The Wind to secure the second divide of the Welcome To Tipperary Maiden Hurdle.

Castle Field Boy was joined by Rule The Wind at the penultimate hurdle and Simon Torren was soon hard at work on him.

Rule The Wind and Sean O'Keeffe jumped the last with a very narrow lead but stepped at it and Castle Field Boy soon regained the initiative.

He used the far rail as he ground his way to the line with Rule The Wind edging out into the centre of the track.

Castle Field Boy could be called the winner in the closing stages as he took the first prize by half a length at 11/4 from the 6/1 runner-up. Suttons Hill was seven lengths adrift of this battle in third at 10/3.

Trainer Pat Foley said: "He was tough and Simon was very strong on him. It wasn't an ideal way of riding him by making all, but we wanted to make sure it was a test as 2m4f is as short as he wants it on that ground.

"He was pretty backwards in a lot of ways and is a typical Scorpion and can be a little bit hot, but has learned and improved from race to race.

"This is a bonus and he'll go off on holidays now and come back chasing next season. I'm hoping there will more to come from him but, if he does, it will be over fences."

Additional reporting by Tom Weekes