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Valor justifies odds-on favouritism

Spirit Of Valor (yellow cap) leads them home under Donnacha O'BrienSpirit Of Valor (yellow cap) leads them home under Donnacha O'Brien
© Photo Healy Racing

Spirit Of Valor justified odds-on favouritism in the opener at Naas, the Tifrums EBF Maiden, scoring under Donnacha O'Brien for his father Aidan.

An eye-catching third on his debut at the Curragh last Sunday, the son of War Front was briefly available at evens last night.

That price didn't last long, and he opened on-course at 8/11, before going off the clear favourite at 8/13.

Settled in second, the bay victor was ridden under two furlongs out, and he hit the front with a furlong left to race.

He briefly edged right inside the final furlong but maintained his lead, going on to score by three parts of a length.

The front-running Imagine If finished second under Colin Keane for Ger Lyons at 7/2 (touched 13/2 this morning), while newcomer Invincible Ryker (14's to 10/1) ran a fine race to take third, a head back under Shane Foley for Mick Halford.

Aidan O'Brien said afterwards: "It's tough going out there and the ground is softer than we thought.

"It's good for him to do it in that. He works well with an ease but that's a good bit more than an ease. I think he'll prefer much better ground.

"I had thought he'd handle the ground better and had thought about looking at the Killavullan at Leopardstown but now I don't know.

"He struggled a bit and I thought he would have won easier. It's possible he may be finished now."

Additional reporting by Gary Carson

1st
8/13Fav
Tote €1.50 €1.02
2nd
0.75L
7/2
€1.80
3rd
hd
10/1
€3.40
4th
1.5L
20/1
About Donal Murphy
Donal graduated from Maynooth University in 2010 with a BBS in Equine Business and since attained a diploma in Sports Journalism from Dublin Business School. He holds a variety of roles in the horse racing industry, reporting for the Press Association and p2p.ie, while also working for SIS and the Tote. From Wexford, he is a keen runner and has completed over 100 parkruns at various locations around the country.