Persia off the mark over flights Joseph O'Brien's Persia built upon a promising debut fourth over flights to take the first split of the maiden hurdle in Punchestown. A massive field of 23 went to post for this race but in reality very few got into it. Canford Light, making his hurdle debut, was always to the fore and had Persia for company four out. Canford Light jumped the second last slightly better and soon had Persia pushed along by Mark Walsh. The 5/4 favourite was back on the bridle as he closed on Canford Light racing to the final flight with the pair clear. Persia got his measure halfway up the run-in to win by two and a quarter lengths. The runner-up was a 22/1 chance and no doubt went into plenty of notebooks. Skippin Court came in third, 11 lengths adrift of the runner-up, at 20/1. Walsh said: “It’s good to get him off the mark, although it was the weaker of the two divisions of this maiden. “He needs to brush up on his jumping a bit but that will come in time. He’ll definitely be better on better ground and is one for the summer. He’s a nice-ground horse.” Persia had been gelded since his last run and sported first-time cheekpieces. He won twice on the Flat for Aidan O'Brien before switching to Joseph O'Brien to finish fourth in a maiden hurdle at Naas at the end of January. Additional reporting by Alan Magee
