The Parishioner sheds his maiden tag

The Parishioner put a smile on the faces of favourite backers when getting up to beat Killiney Court in Bellewstown’s opening two mile one maiden hurdle.

Killiney Court put in an indifferent display of jumping, but when he jumped the second last well when in the lead he looked poised to score. However, he fiddled the last and allowed The Parishioner to stay on strongly and win by three parts of a length at 10/11, with Mark Walsh urging him home.

John Kiely 's five-year-old gelding had been 11/4 this morning. Killiney Court got second-placed money at 7/1. There was a 16 length gap back to Poetic Lord in third at 11/2.

Frank Berry, racing manager to JP McManus said: “He made heavy enough weather of it, but he got there in the end and we’ll find a little handicap for him now.

“He came on a bit for the run in Kilbeggan which was his first run for a while and he’ll get a bit further down the road.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee