'He could be a Galway Hurdle horse' - Toto impresses as Gavin Cromwell warms up for Aintree with a double

Another big week at Aintree beckons for Gavin Cromwell, responsible for leading Grand National fancy Vanillier, and he began the warm-up with a good double at Naas's final meeting of the jumps season.

The Basil Holian-owned Toto Too was having his first run for the stable, having won a bumper and maiden hurdle for Peter Fahey, and scored an impressive success in the 2m rated novice hurdle. 

He survived a blunder at the second-last before producing a decisive turn of foot on the run-in to score by a cosy two lengths from Dark Note and Undeniable Alibi.

Cromwell said: "That was grand. I wasn't sure what to expect with the ground but he coped with it. It probably isn't too bad and he got through it well.

"He jumped well apart from the second-last, but he's a novice and hopefully that will improve. He did well to recover from that."

Cromwell added: "He could be a Galway Hurdle horse. We'll be looking to get a bit more experience into him but he absolutely could."

Clouds lifted

Cromwell brought up his double when Conor Stone-Walsh managed to coax a long-awaited win from the frustrating Clear The Clouds. The six-year-old came from well off the pace in the 2m3f handicap hurdle to break his duck at the 15th time of asking.

The winning trainer said: "He's been threatening to do that, he's been banging on the door, so it's great that he finally won. The owners, the Laceys, are on holiday in Dubai and it's about the first time they haven't seen him run, so I'm very happy for them too.

"Hopefully the handicapper won't be too hard on him and will give him a chance. We gave him a bit of a break and had something small done with his wind, but he'd had three runs since and it didn't seem to make a difference, so I don't know what the answer is. Maybe getting his head in front is what he needed."

Kieran Callaghan, rider of runner-up Early Arrival, was hit with an eight-day ban for using his whip with excessive frequency.

Ernie gets his turn

It turned into something of a redemption day. Half an hour before Clear The Clouds broke a 14-race duck, the Padraig Roche-trained Ernie From Nurney scored at the 12th time of asking in the 25-runner handicap hurdle over two miles.

He was delivered from well off the pace by Peter Smithers to score by two and a half lengths from another luckless type in Chosen Shant, who will surely have her day before long.

Roche said: "A great bunch of lads own him and I'm delighted for them, they've been very patient. He's a massive horse and he's probably just maturing. He's starting to put a couple of runs together. We'll probably keep going with him now in low-grade handicap hurdles and maybe pick up a chase." 

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