Rich Belief makes winning start for Crawley

Rich Belief (8/1) made a winning start for his new trainer Shane Crawley in the the 1m5f handicap.

A four-time winner on better ground for previous handler Karl Thornton, the blinkered six-year-old was having his first outing for six months and handled the testing conditions well to gun down Scott Lang inside the final furlong. There was half a length between the pair at the line.

Winning rider Seamie Heffernan was teaming up with the Make Believe gelding for the first time

Crawley was saddling runners at Limerick and winning owner Ivan Keeling, from Donabate, said: "Super!

"A small bit of ability and stays at it.

"He was a bit unlucky in the north when Billy Lee rode him. He said anything that could have gone wrong did go wrong and he still got up to be third (at Down Royal last September).

"He has won five races for us, we can't believe it.

"We will probably go jumping hurdles next, he jumps nicely."

Quotes from Michael Graham