Burke's charge Sheds the maiden tag

Darragh O’Keeffe can get a tune out of just about any horse at the moment, and he worked his magic on Liam Burkes' Shedding to win the opening 2m 4f maiden hurdle at Limerick.

Returned at 10/1 (available at 40/1 and bigger in the morning shows), the Carlotamix gelding led turning in and shrugged off the strong-travelling Cloudybackwest (20/1) after the second-last to score by a length. Bythesametoken (4/1) was another two lengths away in third, while the 3/1 favourite Tapenade weakened having been prominent and beat only one home in ninth.

The winner had shown just a little more in his last two starts in handicaps, but it would appear that the in-form jockey and a set of first-time cheekpieces were a big help to him.

Winning trainer Liam Burke remarked : “That was a nice little pot for an unplaced maiden, and they are grand races for a horse like him as he’s limited.

“That’s my third winner in the last 11 days. It’s amazing when they hit a bit of form as I went through a patch where I couldn’t get anything to finish a race.

"You don’t do anything different but when a yard is in form they can all run well.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee