Masked gains deserved win

After just going down by a nose to The Boat People over the course recently, Masked Phantom gained a deserved victory this afternoon as he took the Paddy Power Handicap Hurdle under Niall Madden for Eddie Harty.

The 6yo son of Flemensfirth has been consistent without winning and he was sent off the 9/2 joint favourite this afternoon on his eighteenth career start.

He was waited with in the early stages before he closed to track the leaders approaching the straight.

He hit the front before the last and stayed on best on the run-in to score by a length and a half at the line. Raheenwood finished second under Sean McDermott for Colin Kidd at 8/1 while Ballyfinboy ran well to take third a further eleven lengths back at 33/1 under Tim Carroll for Jimmy Finn.

The Henry De Bromhead trained The Boat People was the other 9/2 joint favourite but he disappointingly pulled up under Andrew Lynch.

Winning trainer Eddie Harty said afterwards: "That was nice compensation. He was only beaten the width of a cigarette paper the last day. We will see what the handicapper does now but he can’t be too hard on him.

"Any JP (McManus) horse that has run for me has now won. So I’m delighted with that."

(Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes)