Private Treasure gallops to victory at Limerick© Photo Healy Racing
Private Treasure stepped up on his debut second to Le Vent d’Antan when scoring in Limerick’s Listed bumper.
The four-year-old son of Montjeu was surprisingly easy to back at 5/1 having opened at 7/2 at the track.
He had been beaten six lengths at Leopardstown by the highly-touted Le Vent d’Antan, but today he went to the front before the home straight and galloped on well in the final two furlongs. Western Boy (18/1 from 33/1) made eye-catching progress to chase the winner and was only half a length down at the line. Grecian Tiger 4/5 favourite for Dermot Weld and Patrick Mullins, could make no impression in the last furlong and had to settle for third.
Paul Nolan trains Private Treasure and said: “Josh (Halley) said he settled a bit better today and it was a nice consistent pace.
“He jumps well and we’ll campaign him over hurdles in the summer, but we’ll wait for the new season.
“He’s very well bred and is a full brother to Frozen Fire and hopefully he’ll pick up a few races in the summer.”
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes