Lake Takapuna appreciates better ground

Lake Takapuna took advantage of a good opportunity and some better ground to land the Point To Point Evening 12th May Maiden Hurdle at Tipperary.

The Shantou five-year-old has come up against some decent types in his five previous outings, and was sent off here the well-backed 11/8 favourite.

Brian O’Connell kept things simple by making most of the running in this two-mile event, and he held a three lengths lead approaching the last.

The Jim Culloty-trained gelding extended that advantage to five lengths at the line. Baltic Voyager took the runner-up spot, with Crown Hill another half-length away in third.

Culloty said, "He has been running well and I'd been looking for a bit of better ground, even better than today's.

"He doesn't want deep winter ground and he'll go chasing sooner rather than later. He's a real chaser, is a tough individual, and I'll keep him going during the summer."

(TW & AM)