Flavin's Midnight Our Fred outstays rivals

Midnight Our Fred (11/2) showed good reserves of stamina to land the Country Fest Wexford Aug 13 Handicap Hurdle.

Third at a big price on his previous outing at Tipperary, the winner raced close to the pace throughout and was pushed along in third on the approach to the straight. He headed Got The Nod between the final two flights and stayed on well under Hugh Morgan to get the better of that rival by half a length.

The Finsceal Fior gelding was bred by owners Florence and Emily Lockwood.

Winning trainer John Flavin said: "As Hugh just said to me, he is still a big, raw baby and you have to be organising him the whole time. Up and down through the undulations and the jumps, you'd just have to keep him organised. Hopefully there is still a bit of improvement in him. He is still only learning and I've given him plenty of time as he is only a big frame of a horse. Hopefully that'll stand to him in the long run.

"I thought going down the back that he might be in trouble but to be fair to him, every time Hugh asked him, he kept responding and that's a good sign.

"He is declared to run in Tramore on Friday in a beginners chase for horses rated 102 or less over hurdles. We will see how he is in the morning.

"He jumps hurdles like they are fences, he is a machine to jump. Whenever he does go over fences, he will be better again hopefully.

"I had dam and won a few point-to-points with her. Thankfully Florence and Emily sent me this fella then and they knew I'd look after him. They are great people and have stuck with me since I started training."

Quotes from Donal Murphy