Mister Benedictine puts Duke on spot

After no wins in four years, Mister Benedictine secured his second win in a week when hacking up by nine lengths in the two miles three furlongs handicap hurdle at Kilbeggan with Dave Crosse in the saddle.

The nine-year-old carried a mandatory six pound penalty today for his comfortable six-length success at Ballinrobe over two and a half miles on Tuesday, but looked in terrific form here.

The 3/1 joint favourite jumped into the lead three out from Substitute and moved clear before two out. Nothing could go with him, but Substitute plugged on for second at 10/1. Recent Kilbeggan winner Liberty Counsel took third at 7/1 for Dot Love another eight lengths away.

When Mister Benedictine won at Ballinrobe his trainer Brendan Duke quipped that he would have to marry his fiancée now. He went a step further after this win as he claimed: “The question is now whether the wedding will be at Ashford Castle!”

“He’s a special little horse. We get on really well together. With a bit of luck there’s a little more to come. He’s in a really happy zone at the minute.

“He has always been great friends with a horse called Open Eyed. They spend every day in the paddock together.

“He’s going the right way. We might run him on the flat again, he’s only rated about 60 there.”

The other 3/1 joint favourite – Glenbarrow for trainer Dessie Hughes – came home seventh after cutting out a lot of the early pace.

Mister Benedictine was popular in the morning from 5/2 to 7/4, but was easy to back on course. Audrelles Lad also had his supporters from 12/1 in the morning down to an SP of 7/1, however, after running second to Glenbarrow he weakened to finish fifth.

Brendan Duke is now 5 from 22 with horses reappearing within seven days of a win.

Michael Graham