Token forgets all his troubles and cares for the Downtowns

Bythesametoken (7/4f) defied top weight when getting back to winning ways today, landing Killarney's Free Streaming All Racing Handicap Chase for the Downtown Syndicate.

Ridden by Keith Donoghue, the nine-year-old raced behind the leaders, led at the second-last and having 'let fly' jumping the last, finished well to beat Ardamir by two lengths.

Winning trainer Ross O'Sullivan stated “that was brilliant. He got an awful fall when he was going to win over fences at Leopardstown (in March 2022) and completely lost his confidence. He didn't jump or do anything right for a long time so we ended up giving up running over fences.

“He got his confidence back over hurdles and in fairness to Robbie (Dunne, previous jockey) he said to try him again over fences. I was nervous he ran well and jumped great at Listowel last week.

“Keith (Donoghue) said he felt like a different horse today, his confidence was up and he was coming down in grade from a 0-140 to a 0-116.”

He added “he deserved to get his day, it has been a while since his last win and it is great to have the Monroes (owners) who have been a great part of us.

“When John (Monroe, former trainer) passed away a number of years ago the horses came to us as the lads were busy with businesses and their pub. We've had great success and I'm delighted for them.”