Gold is Fantastic over fences

Fantastic Gold overcame a five month lay-off to make a winning start over fences in thetote.com Beginners Chase for mares at Clonmel.

The six-year-old daughter of Fantastic Light – backed from 7/1 into 11/2 – led away from the second last under Eddie O’Connell, and a fine leap at the final fence helped her record a length and a quarter verdict over Twin Plan (11/1).

The 4/5 favourite Mayo Mystique who was only covered by Arakan last Sunday, cut out a lot of the running but could find no extra after being headed by the winner.

She finished a further three and three quarter lengths back in third.

Winning trainer Michael Cullinane was represented by his sister Marian Geoghegan who said, “She did it well for her first start over fences. She should come on a bit but we expected a good run.

“We’ll probably step her up to two and a half miles now and go for a mares novice chase.”

(Additional reporting by Donal Murphy)