Colcannon opens up a path to Punchestown

Colcannon (9/2) came from last to first in the Grade 2 bumper at Leopardstown under a cool ride from Derek O'Connor.

The pair made relentless headway a quarter of a mile out and travelled best to close a furlong and a-half down.

He was still swinging away as he took over by the final furlong and O'Connor soon drove him on for home.

He kicked on the final 150 yards to win by a handy length and a-half from Sortudo (13/2). He Can't Dance was a head further back in third at 3/1.

Colcannon was last seen winning a Galway bumper in October.

Noel Meade said: "We always thought he was fairly useful.

“It was unfortunate what happened last year with Finn (Tegetmeier). He was point three light, which is nothing, and he went and won by nine lengths (disqualified at Punchestown).

“When he went to Punchestown and the mare (Sixandahalf) beat him, we felt he was gone at that stage. Then he had a bad run in Thurles, when we shouldn’t have run him as it was too soon. He was a shell.

“The whole intention after he won his bumper was to go jumping with him, but the schooling just wasn’t going the way I wanted it to go.

“I felt he was going to take a run or two over hurdles to get to where we want him.

“I said at Christmas he’d run but he won’t win because he won’t jump well enough and his novice season could end up with him winning late on.

“I’d say we go with a different plan. We decided we’d run him in the bumper at Christmas, but the day before we had spots in the yard and he came up with a couple of spots so we had to take him out of that and then here was the next one.

“Unfortunately, he’s not qualified for Cheltenham but I think he’s okay for Punchestown, so we’ll probably plan for that. If there is something in between, at Fairyhouse, we’ll see.”

Additional reporting by Gary Carson