Shinnick and Kilmurry Jj team up well

Kilmurry Jj ran down Gold Haven to land the West Waterford Handicap Chase over an extended 2m5f for jockey John Shinnick and trainer Terence O'Brien.

Shinnick was seen to good effect on the seven-year-old gelding who made stealthy headway after three out.

He didn't fully go for his mount in second, but allowed him to keep rolling in their pursuit of Gold Haven. A good jump at the last enabled Kilmurry Jj to collar Gold Haven in the final 50 yards and he was driven home by half a length to reward favourite backers at 4/1.

Gold Haven (11/2) emerged with credit in second and was six lengths up on Listenheretomejack (8/1).

Shinnick said: "He is owned by a great syndicate (TerenceOBrien Racing Syndicate) and the craic is mighty with them.

"I was just trying to get him to run a proper race today, he can be very difficult at home trying to settle him. My main aim was to just settle and switch him off, I didn't want to get into any argument with him.

"I think it suited here that we were turning a lot. Every time he was getting a run on me, he was turning and it would bring him back off of it a little bit.

"I was saving plenty and when I asked him to catch up, he caught up with them in no time and got himself home. I'm delighted to win with him as he can be tricky.

"I was keen to stay wide to make sure there was no hard luck story. His jumping was very good today, I was surprised how good it was. I was saving as much as I could because I didn't know when he might blow up as we haven't given him too much hard bits of work at home.

"On his first run over fences he was a bit all over the place, but today he was good.

"Terence's horses are in brilliant form and I owe a lot to him, he has been very good to me."

Additional reporting by Donal Murphy