Lucky Max bolted up under Rob James to land the feature event at Cork this afternoon, the €22,000 handicap hurdle over two-and-a-half miles.

The Sean Doyle-trained gelding had won on both previous visits to the Mallow venue and made it a hat-trick with an easy victory today.

James held his mount up, on the outer, in mid-division before moving up to challenge three from home on the 15/8 favourite.

The Maxios gelding eased to the front before the penultimate flight and skipped clear before the last under a confident ride to secure an effortless six length victory over Takarengo

Winning owner Donnchadh Doyle said afterwards:- "His last couple of runs in Grade B handicaps were very good and we were hoping he'd do that today.

“He went through the ground lovely and Rob gave him a lovely ride and he jumped super. I wasn't afraid of the ground or the trip and he loves it around here.

"We'll have a look at the calendar and see what's coming up in the next few weeks."

It was a good 20 minutes for Donnchadh Doyle who had prepared Tolworth Hurdle winner Tahmuras to win his point-to-point.

(Quotes by Tom Weekes)