Ballychorus readily followed up on her Killarney bumper win with success in Division 2 of the maiden hurdle at Roscommon. Voluptueux the 9/4 favourite, moved nicely behind Ballychorus but when push came to shove he couldn’t reel in the 3/1 chance and had to settle for second. Ballychorus stayed on well after cutting out much of the pace in this two-mile contest. She was backed in from 5/1 this morning. Rich Coast for Noel Meade and Paul Carberry got third-placed money at 7/1. He was beaten eight lengths by the winner.

“She’s improving the whole time. I’m delighted with her. She got a break after the winter. She came back and won her bumper and went on and did that,” successful trainer Mags Mullins said.

“She had two runs in winter over hurdles. Wait until she sees a fence. All going well she’ll be a lovely mare over fences. She has a good attitude and is a good work mare. It’s good for Barry and Danny gave her a lovely ride.”

When asked about the possibility of Ballychorus going to Galway, she replied: “We’ll think about it. We’ll leave it to Barry, he’s pretty good at picking the races.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson