Will Wilde takes Sligo finale for Doyle & Gleeson

Always in the front rank, Will Wilde landed the final race of the year at Sligo, and a few bets, when taking the the Solar Generation Flat Rac for Liz Doyle and John Gleeson.

The four-year-old, unplaced on his only previous start at the Punchestown festival in April, was supported from 11/1 into 13/2 before the off and made virtually all.

Despite wandering and looking green under pressure in the home straight, the grey stayed on well to see off the challenge of 4/5 favourite Bleu De Vassy by two and a half lengths.

Rory McIlroy's former caddie, J P Fitzgerald, is part of the Wilde Partnership and was present to collect the winning owner's prize.

Doyle said: "He's a lovely horse by Martaline who's my favourite stallion.

"He was badly wrong in Punchestown. I went there because he was a good horse but he scoped wrong afterwards. My horses were suffering from the rape at the time. I had a bad dose of it and a lot of horses that ran bad have run well since, so that gave me confidence that this fellow would go well.

"He's a beautiful big galloping horse. John (Gleeson) said there was going to be no pace, so I said you're on a big galloping horse with a big stride, so on you go and keep it simple.

"He'll probably end up needing a trip when he goes hurdling."