Hourigan gets his Listowel winner with Drumacoo

Drumacoo (14/1) gained his first win for well over four years when taking the M.J.Carroll ARRO Handicap Hurdle in the hands of 7lb claimer Mark McDonagh.

The winning rider had gained his first career win earlier in the week aboard Blackjack Boy and he produced the 11-year-old Oscar gelding at the last.

From there Drumacoo kept on well to account for 16/5 favourite Grange Walk and Born By The Sea (10/3) by a length and three quarters and three quarters of a length.

The placed horses came close to each other on the run-in but, following a Stewards' Enquiry, the placings were unchanged.

As a young horse Drumacoo had rattled up a four-timer, comprising a bumper and two hurdles in Ireland and a win over fences in January 2016 in Britain during a spell with Ben Pauling.

He returned to his original trainer, Michael Hourigan, in 2017 and this was a good effort having been absent since last Christmas.

Winning trainer Michael Hourigan said: "He has been unlucky and my horses haven't been well for the past couple of years. I knew he was coming though and Mark (McDonagh) gave him a nice ride.

"He was a very good horse one time, he likes soft ground and I didn't run Humm Baby in the race because she wouldn't handle it.

"I'll try and find a chase for him if I can but he had lost his bottle jumping fences."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes