Connors Cross completes a chaotic double

Connor Cross sprang a 66/1 surprise in winning Punchestown's I.N.H. Stallion Owners EBF Maiden Hurdle today, completing a chaotic half-hour for races run over the inside track at the Kildare venue.

Today's incident-packed opener was won by Soldier Solid while point-to-point runner-up Connor Cross was reappearing following a 104-lengths defeat in a December bumper.

Ridden by Aidan Kelly, the son of Carlotamix today led from the second flight and while strongly pressed by Faulty rounding the home turn, was left clear as the chasing 11/8 favourite slipped up on the bend.

Connor Cross idled badly approaching the last and was briefly strongly pressed by runner-up Easy Fella but regained his momentum on the run-in.

Winning Stradbally, Co Laois-based trainer James Fahey commented “I thought he'd win his point-to-point first time out but his jumping let him down. I then thought he'd run a lot better in Naas but he actually struck into himself, either going to the start or during the race.”

He added “he's a very nice horse, gallops all day and is for sale. He has a very good pedigree as he's a half-brother to Roseys Hollow. He's a grand horse and is learning the whole time. He's going to get better and better as time goes on and I'd say he'd actually like the ground a bit softer.

“If we can get him to learn to race early on he'd be better, just to switch off a little bit.

“I'm delighted for the boys (owner Philip O'Connor and friends) that it worked out and I think they had a few quid on him - he was 100/1 this morning.”

Quotes from Gary Carson