Land Afar a first bumper success for McCann

Land Afar built upon a promising fourth on his last appearance to decisively land Ballinrobe's bumper with Aine O'Connor in the plate.

He raced into contention approaching the final quarter of a mile and soon took over.

O'Connor had plenty of horse under her as it was mostly hands and heels to push him well clear in the final furlong.

The 11/2 chance was clocked seven lengths clear of Can't Beat History (3/1). Canteeny Benny (100/1) pipped the favourite Caldwell Diamond by a head for third. The latter didn't appear to handle the track.

Anthony McCann, saddling his first bumper winner, said: “He was bred by the owners in Monaghan.

“The last day in Cork he was a wee bit keen and the ground was bad that day. I was a little concerned about running him today because he’s such a big horse and I was wondering would he let himself down on the ground, but he did and won well.

“He was only 7 or 8 lengths (8.75L) behind Vanillier in a point-to-point and he got a setback after that.

“He’s a big raw horse, a chaser in the making and that’s something we always wanted.”

Land Afar was fourth in a Cork bumper last month.

Additional reporting by Mark Nunan