Simon Zebo may have failed to get a Lions call-up today but the equine version did his bit for the name when Our Man Zebo scored in good style in the Welcome Back To The Racecourse Of The Year Maiden Hurdle at Ballinrobe.

Barry Geraghty always looked happy on the victorious grey, he kept the point-to-point winner wide and he eventually beat Kandinski (another market-leader to finish second for Robert Tyner after Byerley Babe in the previous race) by three and three parts of a length.

Geraghty remarked: "Michael (winning trainer Michael Hourigan) was hopeful but a little worried about the ground but he got away with it.

"I had a run around beforehand and I thought it was better out wide on the far-side and on the turn-in.

"It might have helped but he did it well, he jumped brilliantly and he travelled and picked up well.

"I had plenty of horse left, I was happy enough that if anything came to me I'd find more."

Hourigan said of the relation to Esha Ness, bred by Adrian Heskin's father, Michael: "We've always thought a lot of this horse. He got beat in his first two point-to-points, a bit unfortunately, but he won his third one and then he had a run in a bumper.

"He finished third then but he's a jumping horse more than anything. We'll probably go chasing sooner rather than later.

"He's a bit like who I called him after – the rugby player, Simon Zebo. I was watching television one evening and I saw him scoring two or three tries so I said there's a name for my horse. He did the same as Zebo today.

"I'd said he'll probably win another hurdle race and I'll go chasing with him then." (TW & EM)