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Irancy impresses on seasonal debut

Irancy  Irancy
© Photo Healy Racing

Trained by Willie Mullins for J P McManus, Irancy made odds of 10/11 look generous when making all to easily win the 50,000 Euro BetVictor Graduation Bonus Series Maiden Hurdle.

A winner of an AQPS race over 1m6f in France at three, the Saddex gelding had shown promise when third to Firefox and Ballyburn in a hot Fairyhouse maiden last December.

Not seen since, the half-brother to 12-time winner Darasso made light of the layoff with a fluent round of jumping and went away on the run to the last to score by nine lengths from Will The Wise

Jockey Mark Walsh commented: “It was straightforward, very simple. He had the form in the book.

“He came back in great form and he had him spot on, I was delighted with him, he had to do it from the front as well.

“The ground is lovely out there and everything went to plan.

“He's not a slow horse anyway and there are plenty of options open for him.”

Paddy Power gave the winner an opening quote of 25/1 for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle.

Quotes from Gary Carson

About Mark Nunan
Mark has followed racing since he was a teenager and worked for many years as a broadcaster with the Irish version of Racecall. He joined the Press Association in 2019 and is also a contributor to the Racing Post. A native of Kildare, he now lives in Sligo.