Noah Webster 'another' for O'Brien

Akorakor and The Doorman were the main protagonists in the two mile maiden hurdle at Naas, but it was Aidan O’Brien who unleashed Noah Webster to score convincingly.

Akorakor carried a lofty reputation into today having won his point-to-point easily in Lismore in March before winning the champion point-to-point bumper in Fairyhouse at the start of April. This was his first start for Mouse Morris. He was easy to back from 8/13 to 9/10 and didn’t get going today as he came in sixth of the seven runners.

Noah Webster made it three hurdle winners from three for champion flat trainer Aidan O’Brien since he started having runners in that sphere again. This was the son of Galileo’s first appearance over timber and he went off 14/1.

The win didn’t surprise jockey Robbie Power who said: “He did it very well. He was very impressive in a schooling hurdle in Tipperary the other day. He’s going to be a lot better hurdler than a flat horse. He jumped very well and jumped very quickly.”

Noah Webster raced in third, but delivered his challenge on the inside coming to the last and galloped strongly to the line in winning by four lengths. The Doorman, who was very well backed on course from 3/1 to 15/8, kept on for second. He also represented Mouse Morris.

The highest rating Noah Webster achieved on the flat was a mark of 55. He was a nine-race maiden on the flat.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson