Emperor Of Exmoor grinds them down

“He doesn’t quicken so we decided to make plenty of use of him today,” Dessie Hughes commented on Emperor Of Exmoor who carried out the tactics to a tee when virtually making all in the maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse.

He led on his won at the third and looked to have plenty of company on his hands, but Shemshal on the outside fell at the second last when looking dangerous. Rock The World the 11/8 favourite from 2/1 was third approaching the last and dropped to fourth on the run-in.

This left Tawseef to serve it up to Emperor Of Exmoor. He was ridden to challenge the Hughes horse at the final hurdle. Upon touching down Andrew McNamara asked for more, but his charge never got his head in front and went down by a length to the winner partnered by Mark Enright.

Backers of Emperor Of Exmoor were paid out at 4/1. Tawseef got a second-placed reward at 10/1. The front two pulled well clear of the remainder, headed by Easter Hunt in third at 11/2. Easter Hunt was beaten 14 lengths by the winner.

Dessie Hughes added: “He did it well. He went on the ground although we didn’t know if he would or not. Hopefully he’s good enough to win a novice and the fact that he goes on good ground will be a help. He’ll go chasing in the autumn.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee