Quarry Lil rubber-stamped her fondness for Clonmel by bringing up a third course success in the Minorstown Mares Handicap Hurdle.

The seven-year-old Jeremy mare ploughed through the testing ground from the front.

She had a closing Joeswayornoway and Irregularheartbeat for company as the race developed before two out.

Gary Noonan 's mount still plenty to offer, though, as she ground them down before the final flight. The 10/3 joint favourite jumped it three lengths to the good and toughed it out.

She arrived at the winning post with three and three quarter lengths in hand. Irregularheartbeat (6/1). Joeswayornoway (16/1) was another three and a half lengths back in third. Lar's Lass stayed on in fourth before the penultimate flight.

Paul O'Flynn said: "That is her third win here and she loves it here. We might give her one more race before leaving her off for the summer.

"We have 16 in training, a lot are young and if we had a few more like her we'd be grand."

Regarding his own injury riding out, he added: "I fractured my T6 and T7 two months ago and have another five weeks left in the brace. It's grand, I can get out and walk around and had my first day in Thurles last week.

"I'm stiff and am like an ould man but I'm lucky out. I was riding out and my saddle slipped and I got a tumble."

Additional reporting by Tom Weekes