Flanagan swoops late on The King Of Prs

Sean Flanagan gained quick compensation for the narrow defeat of Joyeux Machin in the Listed feature at Wexford when getting King Of The Prs up in the closing stages of the I N H Stallion Owners EBF Beginners Chase.

The Gavin Cromwell-trained gelding, twice a winner over hurdles including at the Listowel Festival last time, was fitted with a tongue tie for the first time making his chase debut. Henn See made most of the running in this two-mile event and the 13/8 favourite still looked the likely winner after two out.

However The King Of Prs was galvanised with a strong effort by Flanagan on the run-in and the 8/1 chance edged out the favourite by a length. Skippin Court was a further five lengths back in third.

Flanagan said, "He done it well and is a very nice horse. He won well enough the last day and it just seems like he is getting into gear. This is only the second time I've rode him. I rode him in a competitive enough handicap at Galway and he got bumped down the hill there before coming home strong to finish fourth.

"He is a fine big horse and jumps a fence really, really well. I probably could have done with being a place or two further back early on but he jumped the first two fences so well that he ended up putting me a bit more forward than I wanted to be. He was a bit in my hands and going to four out instead of going forward I waited for a little bit and filled him up and had one good run at them.

"He is a grand horse and got through the ground well. He is well-bred by Jerry Russell who is here to keep an eye on things."

Quotes by Donal Murphy