Third bumper win for Bentham in Festival finale

It’s always a notable feat for any horse to win three bumpers, and Gavin Cromwell’s five-year-old Jeremy gelding Bentham (11/4) deserves plenty of credit for doing just that as he confirmed Killarney form with Celine Soprano (5/1) to win the Brendan Daly Memorial (Pro/Am) INH Flat Race, the concluding race of the 2019 Harvest Festival.

It wasn’t quite three in a row, but three out of his last four, for the winner (also won at Bellewstown in July) as Conor McNamara rode him clear on his favoured good ground from two furlongs out to score by a length and a half, with the 5/2 favourite Donacheady Gale another length and a quarter back in third.

The winning rider was out of luck for his father Eric during the week, but this was a nice way to finish off as he registered his twelfth winner of the campaign.

Conor McNamara said: “He was very good, and to be honest the ground is key.

“He's a lovely horse and that's his third bumper.

“Maybe in the spring he didn't just get the run of things. He was probably a little bit immature but he he’s developed into a lovely horse.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee