Heart Wood and Rachael Blackmore© Photo Healy Racing
Heart Wood landed a big pot on his first outing in handicap company over fences when running out a wide-margin winner of the €150,000 O'Driscolls Leopardstown Handicap Chase.
The Henry de Bromhead-trained had kept good company in beginners events since his arrival from France and had chased home Blood Destiny on his most recent outing at Naas in December.
He went to post a 6/1 shot in today's two-mile-five contest and settled in behind the leaders for most of the trip.
Rachael Blackmore asked her mount to dispute going to the final fence and he jumped the last along with Perceval Legallois
The departure of that rival left the six-year-old with the advantage and he galloped on strongly in the closing stages to post a 14-length win over Riaan
De Bromhead said:- “He had a couple of nice runs in beginners chases and in all fairness it seemed a reasonable mark.
“We said we’d aim for here today and we’re delighted to win this. We’ll see what the handicapper thinks and then sit down and decide where we go.”
(Quotes by Alan Magee)
