Teriferma and JJ Slevin (right)© Photo Healy Racing
Jockey JJ Slevin has a good handle on juvenile-hurdle form at present and bagged his third such race of the new season at Killarney today, steering Teriferma (14/1) to win the Bordeaux Racecourse 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle.
Slevin finished second in the opening juvenile maiden at Tipperary in July and, since then, has collected all three such races for trainer Joseph O'Brien and won today's dramatic race on another hurdle debutante Teriferma.
Second-favourite Ceol Draiochta exited at the fourth hurdle while at the sixth, well-backed favourite Messerschmitt (6/4) effectively ran out and unseated rider.
Teriferma made progress to challenge on the inside in the home straight and while blundering at the last, finished well to beat Game Phoenix by two lengths.
Slevin wasn't getting carried away with today's edition but stated “it was messy but I suppose three-year-olds can be like that and I managed to avoid any trouble. He only had the two runs, he had finished sixth the last day so we were hoping the step up in trip might suit him.
“It is hard enough to win first-time-out over hurdles, especially at this time of year as it is difficult to get horses away from home (for schooling), so it was a good performance.”
