Western Victory back to winning ways

The 6/5 favourite put her last-fence fall at Listowel behind her when easily landing the Clonmel Oil Chase Day November 12th Mares’ Steeplechase in the hands of Sean O’Keeffe.

The market leader sat second, and clear of the others, as Andalusa bowled along in front and the daughter of Westerner mastered the long-time leader at the second-last fence.

From there she wasn’t troubled to beat the staying-on Make My Heart Fly (33/1) by 16 lengths, with Andalusa (9/4) finding no extra back in third.

The winner had been a length up when coming down in her previous outing at the Harvest Festival but showed no ill-effects as she gained her second win over fences to add to three wins over hurdles.

Declan Queally junior, assistant to his father and winning trainer Declan, said: "She is a decent animal and it is unfortunate what happened at Listowel and it was one of those things.

"She is a six-time (including one point-to-point) and Listed winner now and is plenty valuable.

“We'll try and find as easy a contest as possible and try to get as many days out of her as possible. She is a fair one."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes