Icy Reply, near side, jumps the last upsides Urtheoneiwant© Photo Healy Racing
Icy Reply was very easy to back for the two and a half mile mares hurdle in Navan, but she did the job for Dessie Hughes and Mark Enright.
From evens in the morning she drifted out to 15/8 favourite. The grey four-year-old filly raced in third and fourth in this six-runner contest. Enright asked for more after the third last. She really started to motor in pursuit of leader Urtheoneiwant between the second last and final flight.
She was on terms at the last, but jumped it more slowly than Urtheoneiwant who found herself back in a narrow lead. Enright then got after Icy Reply who battled past her rival to go on by three parts of a length. The runner up was returned at 11/4. She made a bad mistake at the third last, but soon regained momentum under David Casey and kept on right to the line.
Dessie Hughes said: “It's a nice race to find for her. We were going to run in the beginners chase at Kilbeggan last night and she has been schooled over fences.
“She jumped a bit scatty there and maybe didn't know what we were doing. We saw this race and the conditions looked right. She's done well for a four-year-old. She'll go chasing now as she'll get great allowances.”
This was Icy Reply's third hurdle success. The previous two came over three miles at Cork and Tipperary in July.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
