Excellent start for Cromwell at Limerick

Bajan Excell gained his second course win in the opening race of the four-day Limerick Christmas festival today as the Gavin Cromwell trained gelding landed the Guinness 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle under jockey Mark Enright.

The son of Helmet had previously won a flat handicap on similarly testing ground in October and today maintained his two-race unbeaten record at the venue when beating Instant Return by a length and a half.

Afterwards Cromwell's assistant Fheidhlim Cunningham stated “he was good and likes that heavy ground. He won on the flat over 1m3f in October and on his first start over hurdles he finished third before unseating very early on his latest hurdles run.

“He is a gutsy sort and was still a bit green and Fish (Mark Enright) said he had a look everywhere.

“I don't know how strong a maiden it was but we would probably be looking at the handicap route for him.”