Montan s last visit to Down Royal yielded a victory in a maiden back in February before two non-descript efforts, but on his return from a 199 day break better was expected of Billy Moffett's six-year-old as he was backed from 12/1 this morning into half those odds for the Billecart-Salmon Handicap Hurdle. The French-bred duly obliged for Tony Martin and 'Slippers' Madden. Kilbrannish Hill made a bold bid to provide Ian Ferguson with a winner as Adrian Heskin sought a double half-an-hour on from his win on Kyoto Summit However Madden had other ideas on Montan and he got him up close home to edge the verdict by a length.

Martin commented: "I had no worries about him over the trip (won his maiden over two and a half). He is very versatile and we were aiming at today for quite some time. We have no real plans now and it's nice for Billy as he lost Drumconvis in the Irish National back in April. He could have been anything."