Noel Meade has his team in good form at present and the Tu Va handler saddled the one two in the Grade 2 Friends Of Tipperary Hurdle as favourite Donnas Palm beat Aitmatov by a length and a quarter.
The victorious grey with Paul Carberry up, led from Aitmatov entering the straight but he was a bit ponderous finding a stride going into the last. Aitmatov then got back to the front under Davy Condon but Carberry didn't panic and he stoked up Donnas Palm sufficiently to score cosily at the line.
Meade commented of the Grand Alliance Racing Club's winner: "He just hadn't been sparkling at home. He tends to be quite lazy but he just started to come right in the last ten days. When he first came back in he got a stone bruise which took him a long time to get over.
"Our original plan was to run in the Cesarewitch. He has plenty of options open to him now like the Morgiana and the Hatton's Grace."
Meanwhile Meade commented of his own runner-up: "I'm delighted with Aitmatov and he'll run in those two and a half mile races at Navan."
Last year's winner of the event Go Native was also the subject of an update by Meade who said: "When he got hurt in the Champion Hurdle we only exercised him on a walker until the end of July. We decided to give him a few months off and he'll only start back in work next week.
"Whether he is ready to run at Christmas or not we'll have to wait and see."
