Crawley's Houdini lands Navan gamble

Dragon Houdini landed a gamble to win the Ladbrokes Cheltenham (Mares) Handicap Hurdle at Navan today as the Shane Crawley trained mare was returned a 10/1 chance, having opened a 33/1 'rag' this morning.

Ridden by Donagh Meyler, the daughter of Yeats improved to lead after the second last flight and in the end stayed on well to comfortably beat Liffeydale Dreamer by three and three parts of a length.

“That was brilliant. I suppose the light weight, 10st1lb on her back, made a difference,” said Crawley.

“She ran well to finish fourth around here before in a maiden hurdle and the step up in trip pat Navan today helped, being by Yeats she probably appreciated that.

“My horses are are in good form. We are doing nothing different but they are in good form.

“She probably likes a bit of nice ground and I wouldn't like to run her in real heavy ground.

“I'm delighted to get a win for Michael (Smith, owner); we bought her at the Derby sale and he had the faith in me to buy her.”

Quotes from Gary Carson