Sutton puts them in their Place

We had another promising young horse do the business for Beeches Stud-based stallion Mahler when Sutton Place (12/1 outsider of the five) looked very good in taking the Listed Irish Racing Writers Kingsfurze Novice Hurdle under Barry Geraghty at Naas.

The J P McManus-owned and Gordon Elliott-trained Sutton Place shrugged aside the fact that he was the least experienced of the quartet battling it out in this opening two miler.

The successful five-year-old was given a patient steer by Geraghty. He looked classy with the way he went into overdrive from between the last two flights, powering away on the run-in to beat Royal Caviar by six and a half lengths.

"He'd a good run first time at Navan and then won his bumper. I thought it would be too big a step today but he seems to be improving the whole time," said Elliott.

"He's a chaser really and looks a proper horse for the future."

The Turf Club Veterinary Officer examined Gurteen trained by Robert Tyner, at the request of the Stewards and reported the animal to have an injured right hind leg post race.

(AM & EM)