Cashman's Idarah is Cheltenham bound

The Paul Cashman trained Idarah under Nina Carberry, overcame a four months absence to win a fiercely fought Paddy Power Last Man Standing Handicap Hurdle at Naas today.

The almost white gelding, and Carberry, showed great determination to fend off the challenges of Rocky Wednesday Sportsmaster and Rory Anna from the final flight to score a 14/1 upset.

Afterwards Cashman said “that was a bit unexpected! I thought he’d need the run badly.

“He schooled at Fairyhouse last Thursday and he went great and did a nice bit of work during the week but it is four months since he has run. However, with the older horses it doesn’t take as much to get them fit.

““He hates that bad ground and hopefully he’ll get nicer ground at Cheltenham. He’s in a few races there but we’ll be leaning towards the Grand Annual Chase - Liam (Mulryan, owner) has Plan A in the County Hurdle. It’s great for Liam, he’s a great client in the stud (Rathbarry) end and sends us plenty of mares.”

Stan James Bookmakers subsequently cut Idarah to 20/1 (from 33s) for the Grand Annual Chase.