Limerick Lace makes most of her opportunity

Gavin Cromwell's Limerick Lace drew right away from her rivals to take the opening fillies' point-to-point bumper over an extended two miles one at Punchestown.

She tracked 2/1 favourite Jenny Flex throughout and was right on her tail entering the final half mile.

Limerick Lace was asked by Derek O'Connor to go and pick up the leader and she readily hit the front over a furlong from home.

She was pushed out at the business end to come in by nine and a half lengths from the favourite. She was easy to back from 13/8 out to 3/1.

The first two home in this race for horses that have not run in a race under any rules of racing or in a point-to-point chase were sired by Walk In The Park.

This was the first of eight point-to-point bumpers on the card. Springtime Promise was gambled on from 18/1 to 5/1 but the gamble went awry as she finished fourth of the six runners.

O'Connor said: “It was a nice performance. She has a lot of class and will be a nice mare going forward.

“She actually was going point-to-pointing so this opportunity to come here was a godsend.

“The idea was to go point-to-pointing to give her a bit of time to mature.

“It's a wonderful day and I have to thank Punchestown for putting it on, it's very important to have these days. It's really appreciated that the IHRB and Punchestown have put it together.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson