Rathnaleen Kal heads King in Cork thriller

The Eoin McCarthy trained Rathnaleen Kal just got up in the dying strides to head King Ferdinand in a thrilling finish to the Kanturk Handicap Hurdle at Cork.

A winner at Clonmel back in May, the daughter of Kalanisi had been very consistent prior to blotting her copybook when down the field at this track last time.

However, normal service was resumed this afternoon, as the six-year-old, who had been placed on four starts prior to that uncharacteristically poor effort, showed her true form under Gary Noonan. Betty Dutton looked to have the field in trouble when kicking on early in the straight but both Rathnaleen Kal and King Ferdinand bore down on the Edward O'Grady trained mare after the final flight.

The trio flashed by the line almost as one but the subsequent photo revealed that the McCarthy trained mare had a head to spare over the second, with Betty Dutton a further neck back in third.

Eoin McCarthy said: “It turned out she was in season after her last run and all her form up to that was solid.

“We’ll see how she comes out of this before making plans but we’ll certainly be looking at Listowel. She likes good ground and if she’s in good form we’ll keep going. We’ll have a look at jumping a fence.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee.