Farout and Brian Hayes jump the last © Photo Healy Racing
Farout (3/1) won the opener on Galway Hurdle day, the Guinness Novice Hurdle, in good style under Brian Hayes.
The Dark Angel gelding, an easy winner of his maiden at Cork in May, kept tabs on the front-running Carrarea before moving clear of that one after the second last flight of hurdles.
He was pursued up the straight by stablemate Tax For Max (13/8 fav) but stayed on well to account for that rival by two and three quarter lengths.
The winner won one of his nine starts on the Flat, a handicap over 1m2f, when trained in France.
Winning trainer Willie Mullins said: “It was a very brave performance by the winner. He did it the hard way and took the race by the scruff of the neck.
“Brian just gave him a breather about halfway and it's a big improvement from him. He's going to go up to graded company now.
“He's a fine horse and I'm very happy with him. He's improving, settling and doing everything right which can sometimes be very hard for Flat horses to do.
“Tax For Max ran a great race. Paul did a great job settling him and the way it worked out he was probably a little bit too far back.
“He'll improve, on his last couple of runs he was far too free. The way he settled today will bode well for the future with him. At least he's learning something.
“They are both horses that could be graded horses. We'll probably have to geld Tax For Max at some stage, when the ground gets softer we'll geld him and then bring him back in the spring.”
Quotes from Gary Carson
