Band Of Blood on his way to better things Band Of Blood confirmed himself to be another Gigginstown horse with bags of potential as he landed the Barna Waste Rated Novice Hurdle in Galway. The five-year-old clearly has a future over fences, but picked up a nice pot here for his exertions. Davy Russell settled the five-year-old King’s Theatre gelding in second as Top Cat Henry cut out the running. Band Of Blood then smoothly hit the front after clearing the second last and from there he put daylight between himself and the remainder as he won easily by eight lengths in justifying even-money favouritism. The other five runners finished in big intervals as Paudi The Punter grabbed second at 20/1. He in turn was 12 lengths ahead of Fantastic Gold. Philip Fenton said: “I’m sure the handicapper can’t be too hard on him for that. His jumping technique will probably be better over a fence and that’s where his future will lie.” On two of his stable stars, Last Instalment and Dunguib who have been off the track injured, Fenton stated: “I’m happy with both at the moment, but it’ll probably be January before they hopefully get back on track. Dunguib is 10 now so he’ll stick to hurdles.” This winner gave Davy Russell and Gigginstown House Stud a double at Galway as Very Wood impressed in the opener for them. Additional reporting by Alan Magee
