The Edward O'Grady trained Catch Me beat two former Champion Hurdle winners to land his first grade 1 contest at Fairyhouse on Sunday afternoon.
The winner met the final flight all wrong, but battled gamely to defy Brave Inca by 1 1/2 lengths with a further 7 lengths to Hardy Eustace
Catch Me and Brave Inca are both quoted at 20/1 for next year's Champion Hurdle with Paddy Power bookmakers. William Hill go 16/1 the pair for the same race and introduce Catch Me at 20/1 for the World Hurdle.
O'Grady is toying with the idea of stepping Catch Me up to 3 miles at Christmas - 'to take the mystery out of it,' but he is keeping his options open and would not rule out a stint over fences at a later stage for the 6-y-o. 'He has schooled well over fences and I think that has helped with jumping of the hurdles.'
Colm Murphy who trains the 10-y-o Brave Inca was delighted with his performance on his comeback and believes that there is significant improvement to come.
