Battleoverdoyen takes Grade One honours© Photo Healy Racing
Battleoverdoyen marked himself out as a serious prospect when maintaining his unbeaten record in the Grade One novice hurdle at Naas.
A good jump at the penultimate flight saw him take a couple of lengths out of the pursuers and he kept finding on the run-in for Jack Kennedy as the pair passed the post two and three quarters to the good.
He rewarded favourite backers at 2/1 from Sams profile at 16/1. Getareason was a further two lengths away in third at 12/1.
Battleoverdoyen's main market rival Tornado Flyer (9/4) was pulled up quickly after the seventh flight.
Willie Mullins said of him: “Ruby (Walsh) said he went down to the start fine but he was never travelling in the race. He jumped a bit big early and I’d say the ground is plenty quick enough down the back. Nothing has shown up yet so we will just have to wait and see. It’s disappointing.”
Gordon Elliott said: “He’s a nice horse and a big chaser in the making. Jack said he’s only learning and when he got to the front he didn’t know what to do. He jumped his hurdles great apart from getting underneath the last.
“He’d probably prefer a little bit more ease in the ground. He’s a chaser and a horse for down the road.
“I’ll have to talk with Michael and Eddie (O'Leary) but I don’t see why he couldn’t go to Cheltenham this year. It will be hurdling this year and chasing straight away next year.
“He’s only a baby and we don’t want to kill him but he’ll have all the entries including at the Dublin Racing Festival. We’ll see how he comes out of this first.”
He was cut from 12/1 for the Ballymore Novices Hurdle and is now 6/1 with BoyleSports, 11/2 at Betfair and 5/1 with Paddy Power.
He stepped up to two and a half miles today having won his bumper and maiden hurdle over two miles.
He started out in April last year when winning a point-to-point for Jerry Cosgrave at Loughanmore.
Additional reporting by Alan Magee
