Hory, white and green on far side, bursts through to win© Photo Healy Racing
There was a shock in the first division of the Congrats To Nina, Our Local Star Maiden Hurdle at Fairyhouse as 33/1 shot Hory overturned 1/4 favourite Level Neverending
Level Neverending always held an ideal position as he tracked front-running Battle Frontier throughout, however, he was less than fluent four out and at the next.
Battle Frontier crashed through the penultimate hurdle but was still forcing the pace on the run to the last as Level Neverending came under a drive from Davy Russell.
Level Neverending jumped it to the left and it was Hory, in the first-time hood, who was unleashed in fifth on the run-in by Harry Swan.
The pair shot through to lead inside the final furlong and went on by a length and three quarters from the favourite for trainer Ellmarie Holden. Smooth Scotch got up for third at 4/1.
Swan said: “He's nice, he quickened lovely there. The hood has definitely helped a lot, he's done slightly too much on his last couple of runs and once he settles he's lovely.
“He surprised me actually, he usually doesn't find it but today he just quickened on and he was good.
“He likes that ground. He was just disappointing on real heavy ground, he doesn't get through it as much as you'd like. Hopefully he'll be a nice one to look forward to.”
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
