Alcander justifies support in finale

Alcander rewarded his supporters when taking the second division of the mile-and-a-half handicap at Dundalk for trainer Fran Flood.

The gelding had been well held on recent starts on the Flat and over hurdles but was backed from 14/1 this morning and went to post a 6/1 shot.

Oisin Orr produced him to lead a furlong and a half from home and he stayed on strongly inside the final furlong to record a comprehensive three length victory Marino Marvel

It was a welcome winner for Flood, his first since March, and he said:-“ He’s done it well and that better surface is a help to us.

“He was lame after running one day at Leopardstown and it worked out that he fractured his pelvis. We had to give him a long time standing in during the season and when we got him back to run the ground was gone against him.

“He also got very worked up in the stalls another day at Leopardstown so we got him put in late today. They went a good pace here and he settled well.

“If the right type of races are there for him we could come back here. We are probably going nowhere over hurdles running him on heavy ground at the moment so we might as well stick to this.”

(Quotes by Alan Magee)