Fil Dor and Davy Russell win easily© Photo Healy Racing
Fil Dor strengthened his position at the head of the pecking order among the current crop of juvenile hurdlers when readily landing the Grade 2 Knight Frank Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown.
Trained by Gordon Elliott for Caldwell Construction, the 4/9 favourite was prominent throughout and, despite a far from fluent jump at the last, stretched right away on the run-in to beat Lunar Power by seven lengths.
The winner’s stablemate Britzka who made a mistake two out, was a further two-and-three-quarter lengths back in third.
Elliott said, “He’s a nice horse and we like him. Even walking around the parade ring he’s so relaxed.
“The Dublin Racing Festival would be the obvious place to go with him now and if not then straight to the Triumph.
“It was a good performance and I’m very happy with him.”
Winning rider Davy Russell said, “We were mad about him from day one as a specimen but he never really excited us in his work. He keeps it all for the racecourse.
“He’s like riding a point-to-pointer down to a hurdle, he’s so good to jump.
“He loves soft ground but showed the last day he can handle it a bit better. He’s very versatile.”
Paddy Power and Betfair both cut Fil Dor into 3/1 favourite (from 4/1) for the Triumph Hurdle, while BoyleSports go just 5/2 (from 4/1).
