The Nagger Reidy strikes on handicap debut

After showing mild promise in maidens, The Nagger Reidy showed that his opening mark of 95 was on the lenient side when winning the Kathleen Walsh Memorial Handicap Hurdle in the hands of J J Slevin.

The scopey son of Kayf Tara, trained by 'Sonny' Carey for Niall Farrell, was backed from 16/1 into 10/1 on the show. Pushed along in mid-division after the third-last, the winner made good headway on the stands' side early in the straight and hit the front on the run-in to beat Duke Otto by two-and-three-quarter lengths.

Slevin reported: "This trip is probably as sharp as he wants and while I had a nice early position, he lost it on the back straight so I was only hoping he'd hang on and run well. He got going again though, stayed going and it was a good performance.

"Going on the outside was my clearest path so there was no great science behind the ride. 

"Sonny didn't say much beforehand and said we'd know what shape he was in after today. He had him in good order."

Quotes from Tom Weekes