Plain sailing for Princeton

Princeton Plains was produced with a perfectly timed run to land the opening Topaz Novice Hurdle on day two at Galway.

10/3 favourite London Bridge made a bid for home at the second last in the two-mile event but the field was tightly packed behind him.

Niall Madden produced Princeton Plains (7/2) with a run going to the last and he got to the front on the run-in for a gutsy length-and-a-half success over that rival.

The winner had opened his account in a tight finish down in Killarney back in May before running with credit when third in a hot looking contest at Sligo.

"That's nice. He's a smart type and an improving horse. The handicap experience helped him," said winning trainer Eddie Harty.

"It was a tactical race and two out they were all in with a shout. His experience stood him in good stead. He's experienced and tough and wasn't fazed by the crowd.

"He won smartly. I liked that and he's a nice horse."

The winner is engaged in Thursday's Guinness Galway Hurdle but at seventh in the ballot needs quite a few to come out to make the line up.

"He's in on Thursday and we'll see how he comes out of this. They were only racing from the bottom of the hill to the winning line there.

"Although he had a tough race to get there he won well in the end. He's not likely to get in but anything is possible."

Gary Carson