Moon too strong in Down Royal opener

Mr Man In The Moon showed his rivals a clean pair of heels when taking the opener at Down Royal today.

Padraig Beggy made all on the Verglas gelding and he had too much in hand with the chasers hard at work over a furlong from home.

He asserted inside the final furlong to record a five-length success over Bisou Baby The well-backed Ferocious Fran (9/4 to 5/4f) was a short-head back in third.

"He's a bit buzzy! When you are on his back he's lovely but he's a handful in the stable," said winning trainer Paul Flynn.

"He's actually got a bit of a cold but if I put anything in his food he wouldn't eat it and if we tried to inject him he'd kill you!

"I entered at Navan last time over five furlongs and they changed it after to six furlongs, which beat me

"He needs five. I thought he needed a bit of a dig but Padraig said that's his ground.

"We'll find something as easy as we can and stick to five. It'll be tougher now and hopefully he'll improve next year.

"The owner Jim Keogh owns Keogh's Bar in Longford and we'll be drinking there tonight!"