Eight Till Late on his way to victory© Photo Healy Racing
Eight Till Late fought off Sensing to win Limerick’s two mile maiden hurdle for Peter Casey and Andrew McNamara.
The six-year-old gelding was always to the fore but had too many guns for his rivals over the last two obstacles. As the racecourse commentator aptly put it, he jumped “long and low” at the last, but didn’t lose any momentum and had two and a half lengths in hand over Sensing.
The winner was returned at 4/1 having been 6s this morning. The runner-up was 9/4, backed in from 3/1 on course. Goline took third, a further two and three quarter lengths away. Donatis Comet the 13/8 favourite, was pushed along approaching the straight and didn’t feature at the business end in coming in fourth.
Peter Casey Junior said: “He obviously likes it here. He won his bumper here. I thought two miles would be a bit sharp, but he jumps brilliantly and that’s a big plus. He’s been on the go a while so we’ll take him home and see before making any plans.”
Eight Till Late won a two and a quarter mile bumper at this track in April.
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes