At Your Ease (nearside) and Barry Geraghty© Photo Healy Racing
With the Liam Kilbride Naas Member Maiden Hurdle excluding horses that had been placed in the first three before, expectations weren’t high in advance of the fourth event. However we had a second winning favourite in succession at Naas through At Your Ease (15/8 into 6/4).
On his return off a 235 day break, the three times previously tried son of Scorpion got his rider Barry Geraghty busy on the run-in.
The J P McManus-owned and Arthur Moore-trained hooded five-year-old found enough to fend off Bold Gesture by two and a half lengths.
McManus also had the third home, I’m Not Alone (Conor O’Dwyer and Ricky Doyle), a length back.
“The conditions were made for him and thankfully it all worked out,” said Moore.
“He'll go chasing now, straight chasing. He's a staying chaser in the making. That was sharp enough for him there today but the class got him through. He'll make a nice chaser.
“We had the fourth dam, Funicular. It's an old family and my father had a lot of them. It's nice to have the family again. Christy (Roche) had Bannow Bay from that same family.”
(GC & EM)
