Queen just prevails to complete 44/1 double for Hoban After claiming the opener on Royal Free Hotel, Conor Hoban doubled his tally aboard Getaway Queen in the Strand Inn Dunmore Handicap. A dual winner at Dundalk over the winter months, the Ken Budds trained six-year-old had been running well of late and finished fifth of sixteen on her most recent outing at Leopardstown. Sent off an 8/1 chance this evening, the daughter of Getaway was settled behind the leaders in fourth. She came with her challenge on the outer from the two furlong pole and soon led, holding off the late surge of Dream Point by the minimum margin. The runner-up was returned at 17/2 under Joey Sheridan for Denis Hogan, while Amlad (4/1) was another two and a half lengths back in third. Baron Samedi was sent off the 9/4 favourite and he finished a disappointing eighth. Budds said of the Mark Landers owned victor: "I thought she had won coming into the parade ring but then I met Conor and he thought we were chinned on the line. "The ground is a little bit too slow for her, she just barely gets home on that ground. She loves quick ground, sure she loves Dundalk. "It took me ages to get her fit, it took three runs. She had a bad draw the last day but what can you do, you have to run because you don't know when they'll get in again or if they'll be sick. "So I ran her and she was a bit too far back but flew home. I knew she was fairly right after that run. "She'll probably go for one of these again now or maybe a handicap hurdle, we'll see. I haven't really ran her much over hurdles yet because I knew there was another flat race in her. "She is ground dependent and wouldn't go on anything slower than that." STEWARDS REPORT * D. McMonagle, rider of Baron Samedi (GB), trained by Joseph Patrick O'Brien, reported to the Stewards' Secretaries that his mount was unable to handle the track and never travelled as a result of this.
