Must Be Obeyed survives late blunder

Must Be Obeyed (12/1) made a winning handicap debut today, surviving a late scare to win Punchestown's Punchestown Gift Vouchers (Mares) Handicap Hurdle for trainer Tom Gibney and jockey Darragh O'Keeffe.

A Ballinrobe bumper winner in May, the daughter of Mustameet today made her handicap debut rated 106 and having racing prominently, moved clear of her rivals early in the home straight. The six year old blundered at the final flight but recovered to beat Robyndeglory by eight lengths.

Trainer Gibney later commented “I thought the handicapper was very fair to her and she did what we hoped she would do.

“I don’t know why she ran so flat the last day. I thought all of mine were running just a bit below their best for the last six or seven weeks. If today is anything to go by hopefully they are coming back to where we were.

“She’s a nice mare that won a bumper and we thought she’d win a maiden hurdle but after getting that handicap mark we thought we’d try and make use of it.”

Quotes from Alan Magee