Star Of Aragon and seven-pound claimer Cathal Landers pipped Cairdin and Daniel Mullins by a neck after two miles in the novice handicap hurdle at Leopardstown.
Cairdin (7/1) made a bad mistake three out which stopped him in his tracks but he stayed on strongly after the last to put up a serious challenge to 12/1 shot Star Of Aragon. Leah Claire (8/1) came home third under Ben Dalton. She had hit the front together with Star Of Aragon at the bend turning in to the home straight.
James Nash was the successful trainer and he commented: “He’s great, he’s a right little horse and there’s not a lot of him.
“Obviously he wants real nice ground and we took a chance here hoping it would be decent ground. He got bogged down in Fairyhouse the last day.
“The plan was to give him a break and come back in the summer. He has won at Galway and hopefully we’ll get in at the bottom of the Galway Hurdle.
“Whether he gets an entry in the Boylesports Hurdle we’ll decide in the next couple of days.” Masked Phantom attracted a lot of support in the ring from 11/2 to 7/2 favouritism, however, he finished fourth under Tony McCoy.
Michael Graham
