Dermot Weld© Photo Healy Racing
Silver Concorde made relentless headway in the quarter mile to win going away in Leopardstown’s bumper with Derek O’Connor doing the steering for Dermot Weld.
The five-year-old gelding, in the Dr Ronan Lambe colours, improved his record to 3-2-1 with this success, but that only tells part of the story. He has been off track for 516 days since being a beaten odds-on favourite in a bumper at the Galway Festival last year.
Dermot Weld said: “It was a nice performance and a confident ride from Derek O’Connor. The horse won the way I thought he would. Obviously we’ll look for a winners’ bumper and go from there.
“He’ll always appreciate better ground. My only concern today was the ground as he’s a very good-actioned horse. He was a big weak immature horse but you saw a much more mature horse today.”
When asked if Cheltenham is a possibility Weld replied that it is.
Silver Concorde mowed down the well-supported Volvalien (5/1 to 7/2 on course) and eased away to win by three and three quarter lengths. Bonzo Bing who had plenty of backers, came in third at 8/1, beaten eight and a quarter lengths.
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
