Ferris gets a sweet tune out of O Maonlai

Timmy Hyde views O Maonlai as a nice chasing prospect but that’s all in the future as the strapping son of Oscar added to a Punchestown bumper winner by taking the 25-runner two-mile maiden hurdle.

The six-year-old gelding was patiently ridden by Martin Ferris to lead at the penultimate flight, at which point chief market rival Dantes Firth came under pressure and dropped away.

The well-backed 6/4 favourite asserted well before the last hurdle, which he met all wrong, and was driven out on the run-in for a convincing five lengths verdict.

The always prominent Black Spot On took the runner-up berth, with Black Zero another six lengths away in third.

Hyde said, “He’s a fine big chaser. I don’t know where we’ll go now but he’ll make a fine chaser one day. You’d be a little bit worried with any horse on that ground.

“He was a bit disappointing in Mallow but to be fair I think I left him a bit short as he blew hard afterwards. He’s very well bred and is from the family of a lot of good hurdlers like Gaye Brief.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson