Great Attitude lands monster gamble for Cleary Great Attitude landed a monster gamble in the opener at Fairyhouse this afternoon, the Connolly's RED MILLS Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle. Bought by Cormac Farrell and Douglas Taylor for €26,000 at the Goffs Land Rover Sale in June of 2022, the German bred six-year-old was a non-runner at Cork in August when in the care of Farrell. Now with Tom Cleary and available at 125/1 in early shows for this two-mile contest, the son of Guiliani was eventually returned at just 8s. Soon settled in second by Tiernan Power Roche, he joined front-running favourite De Temps En Temps three out and eased to the front early in the straight. Ridden and briefly tackled by Kish Bank after the penultimate flight, the bay victor went on again before the last and found plenty for pressure on the run-in. The aforementioned Kish Bank (10/3) finished five and a half lengths away in second, while Watchful Protector (18/1) made late headway to take third, another 15-lengths back. Returned at 8/11, De Temps En Temps faded tamely once headed and eventually finished fourth. "Rory (son) was doing a good bit of schooling on him and was happy with the way he was going," Cleary revealed. "I have to hand it to him, I told him to keep an eye out for a good horse and fair enough he did. "I only got him there before Christmas and he had very little time off with us to be honest. "Between himself and Paul (son) and my grandson James they all ride him and Rory did most of the schooling over hurdles with him.” When asked if he knew that he had been a treble figure price Cleary added: "Was he? Jeez I missed that! "I was told that he was down to 8s before the off. "My throat is a little bit sore now, we were expecting a good run and it's a bonus to win it. "It's a happy day for me but my thoughts are with the O'Sullivan family." When asked if he had fancied riding him himself Rory Cleary added: "The weight put me off today! "He's good over fences as well so hopefully in time to come I'd love to ride him over fences. "We really fancied him to run a huge race and we were strongly confident that he'd be placed. Anyone we spoke to we told them to have a few quid each-way on him. "He's being working brilliant and doing everything so easy. For the horses we have at home he's a class above them. "He's a very exciting horse and hopefully we can get a nice syndicate into him or a nice owner into him." For his part, Power Roche added: "That was very straightforward. He's a nice horse and his name suits him because he's got a great attitude. He jumps and travels and it was all straightforward, really. "The boys told me they were fancying him. They said he was a nice horse and he was going well at home. I was questioning the price of him when I saw what he was down to but, no, they got it right." Additional reporting by Gary Carson
