Bally Longford ploughs through the turf

Bally Longford relished the soft ground in Ballybrit as he galloped his way to victory in the two and a quarter mile Lord Hemphill Memorial Handicap Chase at Galway.

Henry de Bromhead's seven-year-old gelding was always in the vanguard as Un Beau Roman took the 17-runner field along. They raced one and two throughout until after the last when Bally Longford was hard ridden by Barry Geraghty to go to the front on the homeward bend.

He kicked clear in the home straight but started to wander around in the final furlong which allowed Un Beau Roman to get a scent of victory in his nostrils. The latter rallied to good effect but Geraghty kept his mount going to score by a length at the line.

"The ground wasn't that bad I'd say. He jumped well and battled well. i thought when I went past Ruby (on Un Beau Roman) that's the last I'll see of you, but he stayed at it well and I thought I was in trouble. My lad just kept finding a little bit more," Barry Geraghty said.

The winner was backed down from 14/1 in the morning to 8/1 SP. Un Beau Roman, in second, was a 10/1 chance with Mr Fiftyone (6/1) and Valours Minion (8/1) giving their supporters a place dividend in third and fourth respectively.

President Michael D Higgins was on hand to make the presentations.

Additional reporting by Alan Magee