Salty Boy dug deep to land the spoils in the €50,000 Tara Handicap Hurdle at Navan for mother and son partnership Mags and Danny Mullins.

The Stowaway gelding was third on his handicap debut at the track three weeks ago and dropped back in trip for the two-and-a-half mile prize today.

He was well-backed for the valuable prize, 9/1 into 11/2, and travelled well behind the principals before being asked to hit the front two from home.

There were plenty in with chances going to the last but the five-year-old stuck his neck out in the closing stages to prevail by half a length from Golden Jewel after a good battle on the run-in.

The winning trainer said:- “He’s just so genuine and has improved again today. He never runs a bad race.

“We’ll wait and see how he comes out of this. He might have an entry for Christmas or it might come a bit soon. We’ll let him tell us.

“He stays well and you have to stay well here up the hill. He should be a nice chaser in time.”

(Quotes by Alan Magee)