Dearg justifies favouritism in Naas opener

Leap Dearg justified favouritism in the opener at Naas, the Martinstown Opportunity Handicap Chase, as he ran out an easy winner under Eamonn Corbett for Robert Tyner (third winner of the week) and owner Mary Hayes.

The lightly raced son of Beneficial finished second on his handicap debut at Thurles in March and he was well-supported to go one place better this afternoon.

Available at 3/1 in a place this morning he opened on-course at 2’s before going off the clear 13/8 favourite.

He raced behind the front-running Old Supporter for most of the contest and made smooth progress to lead at the last, keeping on well on the run-in to score by seven lengths. West Council who was backed from 16's to 12’s on-course, ran well to finish second under Shane Shortall for Iggy Madden while the aforementioned Old Supporter was third under Brian Hayes for Peter McCreery at 9/2.

Robert Tyner said afterwards: "He's an improving horse. He needed to grow into his frame and is a fine big horse.

"The conditions came in his favour and might have inconvenienced a lot of the others who have been going all summer on good ground.

"We're not tied to two miles with him. He wants a good galloping track."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson