Following the popular local success of Brave Betsy in the second, Halfback had many in the crowd smiling again after sprinting away from the last under Philip Carberry to take the Garlow Cross Handicap Hurdle.

Backed from at least 16s in the morning into 8s (there were a couple of non-runners), Carberry held the Lord Americo gelding up, but he swept up the outside in the straight to deliver his challenge and he ultimately won quite impressively from Cantrell by six lengths.

Owned and bred by Pat Reynolds, a Meath All-Ireland winning footballer of the sixties, Halfback is trained at the yard, Rathaldron Castle in Navan by Finbar Hand.

He said: "This fellow is a very quirky horse and the fact that my yard is only a mile away really suited him. He has had loads of problems, he has broken down twice and cracked a pelvis. He had been running over two miles and the step-up in trip helped as he is from a good staying chasing family."

Reynolds missed the win as he is currently holidaying in Portugal. Meanwhile Carberry had been on Fistoulig when he beat Halfback at this track twelve days ago.

Halfback, a half-brother to the former-Michael Hourigan six time winner, Moss Bawn, was getting off the mark at the fifteenth attempt in a second time tongue-tie. (EM)