Lieutenant Command earns his stripes over fences Lieutenant Command (8/1) put in a fine front-running performance on chasing debut in the opening beginners' chase at Fairyhouse. The lightly-raced seven-year-old gelding jumped from fence to fence but was closed up on the home bend by the well-backed Max Flamingo. The leader popped the second last nicely for Bryan Cooper and had his challenger under a drive from Paddy O'Hanlon on the run to the final fence. Max Flamingo (5/2f from 13/2 in the morning) tried hard on the run-in but was unable to reel in the winner and went down by a length and three parts. Floueur (9/1 from 12/1) ran a solid race in third. Noel Meade said: “He was brilliant when we schooled him. Pat Doyle had him as a point-to-pointer. “We always thought a lot of him when he ran in bumpers and we were really looking forward to him last year. He won and then he got worse and worse and I don’t know why. “He’s in the three-mile race at Leopardstown over Christmas and the race in Limerick so we’ll see what happens. “He handled the ground but I would think he’d like it easier.” The grey son of Kendargent has now landed a bumper, a maiden hurdle and a beginners' chase. Additional reporting by Alan Magee
