Amateur rider Chris Cully had a day to remember at Downpatrick when half-an-hour after his success on Kanesh he was on the mark again in the concluding Crossgar Irish National Hunt Flat Race, this time on his father Tom's Nutin Fancy Nutin Fancy is trained by Gordon Elliott who was completing his own brace following the earlier win of Brave Beauty – giving himself plenty of reasons to be cheerful on the occasion of his 33rd birthday.
Nutin Fancy, winner of a point-to-point for Caroline Hutchinson, was a strong favourite this morning but he was displaced at the top of the market by golfer Christy O'Connor junior's Noble Steel (6/1 this morning into 7/4). That gambled-on front-runner looked like he'd prevail as they approached the business end.
However Nutin Fancy and Baileys Ruffit swept by him in the dip and it was the former who stayed on best to win by five lengths. Noble Steel couldn't find another gear when it mattered and he ended up two lengths further back in third.
Elliott said: "That's a good birthday present. This is not a bumper horse – he's a two and a half mile or three mile chaser. It was probably a weak enough race and he'll go hurdling next season."
