Sonny B is certainly not the easiest ride in the world but the seven-year-old has an engine, and those who availed of odds of 9/2 this morning were in clover as the gelding ultimately ran out a decisive winner of the Mallow Maiden Hurdle.

However the well-backed 11/4 joint favourite gave Brian O’Connell an anxious moment when asked to quicken approaching the final flight of this 2m4f event.

The John Joe Walsh-trained gelding veered erratically right across his two nearest rivals at that point but soon straightened up and quickened clear on the run-in. Cuil Rogue was over five lengths adrift at the line, with Shuilamach just a head further back in third.

Walsh said, “He can be a bit scatty in his jumping and was a bit green jumping the last. He’s a bit afraid of those hurdles but jumps the Easifix hurdles much better and jumps fences great.

“He can’t go up much for winning this and will go for either a novice or a handicap next. But chasing is his game and he’s already got a good education in point-to-points.

“He’s owned by Anthony Byrne who drove down from Donegal today where he’s a fish merchant.”

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes