Tranquil Sea justifies favouritism but not without a scare

Tranquil Sea gave supporters that took short odds quite a scare before battling back bravely on the run-in to justify favouritism in the opening Dermot Casey Tree Care Maiden Hurdle at Cork.

Runner-up on his last two starts, the Paul Nolan trained four-year-old was sent off at 4-6f to go one place better this afternoon. Always towards the head of affairs, the Teofilo gelding was less than fluent at a number of his hurdles, losing ground in the process.

Moving upsides race leader Malbay Madness on the run to three out, another less than fluent jump set the gelding on the backfoot. As the two horses settled down to battle it out up front, the once raced Firebrand arrived on the outside to throw down his challenge.

All three horses held chances of sorts on the run to the final flight but Tranquil Sea appeared to be the one struggling back in third. However, just when a big jump was needed, the eventual winner produced one for jockey Sean Flanagan.

Landing with momentum, the Nolan trained gelding ran on strongly from the back of that flight to prevail by a length from Firebrand.

Assistant Trainer James Nolan said: "For a short priced favourite maybe you'd expect him to do it better than that but he was careful over his hurdles. He has been careful in his early races but has warmed to things and obviously his last few runs were better.

"Sean said he had plenty horse under him going to the line though and it is nice for the owners Anne and Jim Coffey and Susan, who are brilliant supporters of ours. We have had a frustrating year for them but it is nice to get one on the board.

"We bought him off Richard O'Brien (trainer), who has been lucky for us and we've had a good association with him. He wasn't expensive and was originally bought for a four-year-old bumper but I didn't have the patience to hold on and wait.

"Thankfully today has worked out and he could end up running in a decent handicap at some stage."

Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.