'Cheltenham here we come. I'll slow McCririck down,' exclaimed Monaghan handler Oliver Brady after his charge, The Glow-Worm justified strong support in the Kehoe Acoustics Maiden Hurdle at Fairyhouse on Saturday.
' The Monaghan flyer, the Monaghan flyer...he's a good horse,' shouted the jubilant trainer in the winners enclosure before he remarked of his #20,000 purchase, who came home twelve lengths clear of Dawn's Double, ' Nobody schools them better than me and he'll run in either the first race on the Tuesday (Supreme Novice Hurdle) or the Vincent O'Brien Handicap Hurdle at Cheltenham.'
Punters, who helped themselves to the 5 to 1 available about The Glow-Worm before racing, were out of luck with Jim Dreaper's warm favourite, Ollimar in the Normans Grove Chase.
Sent of at 5 to 4, he failed to quicken at the business end when asked the question by rider Tommy Treacy, eventually finishing nine lengths adrift of pillar-to-post scorer Mr Baxter Basics and Jason Titley. Former champion chaser, Klairon Davis put in his best performance of the current campaign when spliting the pair, four lenghs adrift of the Tom Taaffe-trained 10 to 1 winner .
Titley was back in the winners enclosure after the Kilsallaghan Beginners Chase when he scored on Noel Meade's Greenstead with his better fancied stable-companion Sun Strand back in fourth. It might have been a different story had the well-backed Nibalda, who joined the leader approaching the final fence, not unseated Barry Geraghty.
Earlier, Geraghty extended his lead at the head of the title race to ten when scoring on Frances Crowley's Sackville in the INH Novice Hurdle while Noel Meade completed a double later when 14 to 1 shot Paddy's Pet scored under Tommy Treacy after 9 to 2 market leader The Fox Inn, also trained by the Navan handler, came to grief at the second fence.
BF
