King Of Brega moves to conquer Fairyhouse

The Pat Downey trained The King Of Brega landed a fair gamble to win the Premier Jump Racing Weekend November 29th-30th Beginners Chase at Fairyhouse today, making much of the running to win under Robbie Colgan.

The son of Court Cave improved to lead from halfway and while he came under pressure before the home turn, stayed on gamely for a half length win over Formal Bid

Formal Bid arrived with what looked a winning challenge approaching the final fence and while his rider Kevin Sexton elected to wait 'Harchibald-style', this runner-up also found little for pressure on the run-in.

The winner had been backed from morning prices of 4/1 into 7/4 favourite and after the win Downey, whose brother Eddie Downey is President of the Irish Farmers Association, revealed “we've have been dying to get him jumping fences as he's nearly 17 hands!”

“Maybe I've been running this lad over the wrong trip and two miles or two-and-a-quarter is what he wants -the only thing that beat him the other day over hurdles in Gowran was the ground.”

“He is from the same family as Chow Mein, who Dessie Hughes trained for us to win a Galway Plate (in 1985).”

The Kings of Brega were rulers of Brega, a kingdom north of Dublin in medieval Ireland.

Quotes from Gary Carson