Rise Of An Empire and Bryan Cooper clear the last © Photo Healy Racing
Rise Of An Empire left behind his previous form to run out a convincing winner of the Waltz From A Samba Maiden Hurdle at Downpatrick.
Noel Meade 's charge had failed to show much on three 'track' starts since being placed in a point-to-point but improvement was obviously expected today with the Stowaway gelding backed from 12/1 this morning into 5/1.
The Gigginstown gelding tracked front-runner Steel's Cotton in the 2m5f before being sent into the lead three from home by Bryan Cooper. Faraway Mountain looked a threat going to the second last but Rise Of An Empire asserted over the final flight and ran on strongly for a seven-length success. Sarah Joyce stayed on to claim second.
Meade said: "I dont know why but the penny has just started to drop. We were nearly giving up on him.
“He ran deplorable in Thurles early on and then he ran very poorly here the last day.
“Bryan said when he came back in that we should still hang on to him. For some reason or another he has just started to pick up.
"Today he looked magnificent in the ring. We've stopped doing too much work with him which I would say has probably helped. He's probably better when he's not working too much.
“Better ground helped. We'll carry on. He was on the get rid of list but we'll have to see how he goes along, he might still be on it. We'll carry on with him during the summer.
"I'd say there is a race in Kilbeggan in two weeks time, a novice race for winners of one and we'll probably go there."
(Quotes by Michael Graham)
