The Jim Culloty trained Legal Exit bounced back from his hurdles debut fall at Thurles in November when winning the opening Frank Conroy Memorial Maiden Hurdle at Leopardstown today, under Barry Geraghty.

Geraghty moved the son of Exit To Nowhere past heavily backed 1/2 favourite Urano (finished second for the third consecutive time) at the final flight before recording an easy four lengths win.

Second favourite Some Article got no further than after the first flight when the gelding, racing along the inner, ran out through the running rail.

Afterwards Culloty stated “I've always thought the world of him and I view this year as a stepping stone as he is really a chaser for next year. I wont aim too high for him this season and will probably look for a winners' of one next. We'll look after him and hopefully we'll see the best of him in novice chases next season.”

Quotes from Alan Magee