Sky Lord and Darragh O' Keeffe © Photo Healy Racing
The Henry De Bromhead trained Sky Lord made a winning reappearance when staying on strongly to land the Bar One Racing "Guaranteed Multiples All Shops" Maiden Hurdle at Cork.
Having just his second start for the stable, the 5/2 chance went in at the first time of asking on his hurdling debut.
Prominent throughout under Darragh O'Keeffe, the gelding chased long time leader Icare d'Aubrelle before heading that rival at the third last.
Asserting on the run to the penultimate flight, the five-year-old went clear to beat the staying on Kappa Jy Pyke by four-and-a-quarter lengths.
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Henry De Bromhead said: "He jumped well, Darragh was brilliant on him and I'm delighted for the Holians. He is a nice young horse, came to us highly thought of and ran well in a bumper last season.
"We're lucky to have him, he is a gorgeous big horse who has plenty of pace. I was worried he might be keen but they went a nice gallop and he was good.
"We came to try and win our maiden hurdle so that's done now and we might look to one of those novice hurdles in January now as Christmas will probably come too soon."
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
