Course compensation for Aarons Day

Aarons Day (3/1f) returned to the scene of a 2021 kerfuffle when gaining an overdue third career win today, landing Naas' 2023 Membership Novice Handicap Chase for trainer Oliver McKiernan and jockey Philip Enright.

The Doyen-gelding was one of three horses which lost all chance at the start of a race on the corresponding card in 2021, before managing second-place, and today bridged a gap of three years between wins, defeating Percy Warner by seven and a half lengths.

McKiernan revealed “a couple of years ago he was left at the start here over hurdles and almost won, but went backwards after that. He's difficult to handle and can blow a fuse very quickly.

“He's big and powerful so it's not simple and today we got him around the parade ring once, got the jockey on and luckily it didn't take too much out of him - it often does before the race.”

He added “we're delighted and it was a great ride by Phillip. He was keeping better company, maybe too good, but it taught him how to race. He liked the ground and the track. We were hoping he'd do that but we were hoping before that he'd do different things.

“Hopefully he's developing and getting better now. He was better today than any day. I have no plans, he'll probably stay at the likes of that and will stay further in time.”

Quotes from Gary Carson