Russell the Man in Sligo feature

The Ross O’Sullivan trained He’s Our Man ran out an easy winner of what was an eventful Martin Reilly Motors Santa Fe Handicap Chase, scoring under Davy Russell for the Kangley Syndicate.

The versatile nine-year-old son of Statue Of Liberty was disappointing on his last two starts and while he opened at 14/1 on-course he was backed into 10’s at the off.

Having his first start over fences since September of 2013 he was settled in mid-division and took closer order with a circuit to race.

He hit the front after the fourth last and while he was challenged and joined two out by Nearest The Pin that fellow crashed out there.

The winner was left in a clear lead as a result and he went on from there to score easily by sixth lengths. Cavite Beta was sent off the 2/1 favourite and he finished second under Jonathan Burke for Jim Dreaper while Sean Airgead (25/1) was a further eight lengths back in third under Robbie Moran for Mark McNiff. Mitebeall Forluck (4/1) looked set to finish third after the last but his rider David Casey lost an iron and was unseated.

Ross O'Sullivan said afterwards: "He was a bit unlucky at Killarney over hurdles where he pricked his ears and was just beaten. He's a very good horse over fences, and that's his sixth win.

"In fairness Davy was on looking for the ride early in the week, and I knew that was a good sign. He doesn't want very heavy ground."

Additional reporting by Alan Magee