Peckham Springs wins Fairyhouse opener

Peckham Springs gained a first career win at Fairyhouse today as the Paul Stafford trained gelding landed the opening Thanks To All Our Sponsors 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle under jockey Adam Short.

The son of Gale Force Ten attained a rating of 79 following six flat runs this year and today benefitted for last month's Punchestown hurdles debut when beating runner-up Toughari by two lengths.

Peckham Springs carries the colours of the First Past The Post Club and afterwards trainer Stafford stated “he did it well and it’s what I expected of him. I don’t know how far he’s going to go but we always liked him.

“He ran well on the Flat and is probably good enough to win a maiden at some stage but we’ll concentrate on jumping for the moment.

“He loves that ground. Flat soft or winter sort, he’s a hardy horse. He’ll come home and eat his grub this evening and he won’t leave a bit in the morning.

“From day one he was a very good jumper and I always had faith in him.

“This is the second horse that the syndicate have had with me. They are a great group of lads and I’m delighted to have a winner for them.

“It’s a pity they can’t be here today but they are very involved and will have enjoyed this.”

Quotes from Alan Magee