Oilily burns off rivals The Grade 3 Mares Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival on April 28 is next on the agenda for Oilily who took the www.racinghomeforeaster.com Hurdle at Cork in impressive style. The nine-year-old mare was patiently-ridden in this two and a half mile event by Davy Russell to lead at the final flight, and she settled the issue in a matter of strides when quickening on the run-in to win with plenty in hand. Russell could afford to pat the 9/4 favourite down in the closing stages as she came home a facile two lengths clear of the always prominent Castle Wings (9/2). A change of tactics were adopted on Won In The Dark who made much of the running but had no more to give from before the last to finish another three lengths back in third. French import Marito proved very disappointing as the Willie Mullins-trained gelding was the first beaten of the quintet. Winning trainer Sean Byrne said, “That was coming to her. It took her a good while to come back from her run at Aintree last year. “She likes the sun on her back, and today’s ground (good to yielding) is better than you would think. She wants good ground. “She has the age and experience now, and she’ll go for the mares race (two and a quarter miles) at Punchestown.” (Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes)
