Little Village comes good

"She was working well with a filly of ours that was third in a maiden (Oonagh behind Absolute Crackers at Cork on April 7th). It was her first run for us and we fancied her a bit. She'll probably go to Dundalk next Friday for a five furlong handicap now," said Portarlington, County Laois-based trainer Kieran Cotter after his Little Village sprung a 25/1 (from 33s) surprise in the Navan Chairman Handicap.

Leigh Roche may have put up 2Ibs overweight on the former John McConnell-trained six-year-old but that mattered little as the Captain Rio mare, a maiden coming into this sprint, led a furlong out on the way to disposing of the gambled-on Stones Peak (at least 6/1 this morning into 4s) by a length and a half.

The victory of Little Village was a welcome one for Cotter, his first since Coughlans Locke triumphed at Ballinrobe in July 2009. (AM & EM)