Outsider ends Stanley's long wait for a winner

Monty's Way caused a 40/1 upset to roll back the years for Fairyhouse-based trainer George Stanley at Ballinrobe today, landing the West Tyre Opportunity Handicap Hurdle under jockey Conor Owens.

The six-year-old carried uninspiring form-figures of '0PPU' into this race but had previously won twice on the Flat for Joseph O'Brien and today raced with the leaders before eventually leading close home to beat Dreamz by three-parts of a length.

Restricted trainer Stanley, whose first runners were in 2000 and didn't train between 2014 to 2022, stated "I train at the back of Fairyhouse racecourse - that's where my land is and I only have a couple of horses in training.

“It's a long time (2014) since my last winner and Portrade won three for me about ten years ago including a big handicap at Listowel.”

He added “in fairness Monty's Way was running quite well when he unseated Keith (Donoghue) here the last day and during the last three weeks he's turned a corner. We've changed the way we train him and bring him to the beach in Mornington a couple of times a week and he loves that.

"Dropping back in trip was a worry but the fact that he had won on the Flat and that he likes better ground gave us hope that he'd run well, although he really wants further. Conor gave him a great ride.

"Fair play also to Joseph Smith who does a lot of work in the yard and he deserves a lot of the credit for this win. This will keep us going for a while and hopefully we'll have a bit of fun with him during the summer."

Quotes from Mark Nunan