He'llberemembered (left) leads Moonshine Lad over the last© Photo Healy Racing
He’llberemembered has proved a great money-spinner for connections and landed the Premier County Hurdle for the second successive year at Thurles.
The four-runner affair appeared a match judged by the betting beforehand, with Moonshine Lad well-supported into 9/10 to assume favouritism from the uneasy He’llberemembered (5/4).
However the other two runners certainly played their part with Keep On Track making the running in this 2m6f event before Ordinary Man took over.
Moonshine Lad appeared to have little chance when struggling with under a mile to run but made rapid headway to challenge as He’llberemembered led away from the second last.
However Shane Butler’s mount found enough on the run-in to hold his chief market rival by three quarters of a length, with Ordinary Man weakening another eight lengths back in third.
Winning trainer Paul Fahey said, “You could run him anywhere. He’s probably one of the most consistent horses in training.
“We bring him to Listowel every year. He hates it but we love it and that’s our excuse to go! He won’t go for the Kerry National any more as he just doesn’t jump the fences down there.
“He’ll follow more or less the same plan as last year. He’ll be entered for the Paddy Power and we’ll look for a conditions race somewhere along the line.”
(TW & AM)
