My Friend The Wind breezes home along the rail

My Friend The Wind won a thrilling finish in Tipperary to reward father and son Eric and Conor McNamara.

You couldn't have called him the winner as he ran freely in fourth at the second last which he jumped stickily.

He did bound into contention, though, at the last but again wasn't fluent. He landed in second behind Fassbender but found plenty on the inner of the run-in to catch the leader close home.

He won at 14/1 by half a length from Fassbender (11/2) who tied up in the closing stages. Johanna Yeats (3/1f) kept on to get to within a short head of the runner-up.

Trainer Eric McNamara said: "He was a very backward horse last year and we left him off for three or four months and he seems to have turned the corner since he came in.

"His jumping has always been a problem for him, even though he has an awful lot of schooling done and jumped well today, bar the second last.

"It was a poor race but he did it well and he gave him a grand ride and everything worked out well.

"He is a 2m4f horse on better ground, will improve again for better ground and that's the owner's (John Earls) first winner with me."

Additional reporting by Tom Weekes