Stormy Master lands over the last© Photo Healy Racing
Darragh O'Keeffe rode his second winner of the evening at Limerick on Stormy Master in division two of the Athlacca Handicap Chase.
Stormy Master was travelling much the better than the long-time leader Capture The Drama turning for home, and was given his head to pass that rival before the second last.
He asserted before the last but then had to be kept up to his work on the run-in as Capture The Drama rallied.
The 3/1 favourite was pushed out by O'Keeffe to win by a length from Capture The Drama (13/2). There was a 14-length gap back to Emir Des Rots in third at 9/2.
This was Stormy Master's handicap debut and he sported blinkers for the first time.
Trainer Ray Hackett said: "He can travel well but what he finds when it comes to the business end is the thing. The fences seem to keep him interested and travelling and I might just keep him to chases.
"He is what he is, it is low grade but being competitive like that we'll get some craic out of him.
"The conditions recently changed as once a horse is rated under 95 over hurdles, and have had four handicap runs, you'll qualify for handicaps off one chase run. That's why he qualified today and while he has disappointed so many times, it's a matter of codding him into winning and it worked out grand.
"He'll be kept going non-stop for the summer and wherever he gets in, he'll go."
O'Keeffe also won the opener on Edward O'Grady's Downthecellar
Additional reporting by Tom Weekes
