'He's a very good horse' - high praise for consistent Darasso after Listed win

Thursday: Thurles

Darasso demonstrated his ultra-reliable consistency as the J.P. McManus-owned stalwart registered the 12th success of his career in the Listed 2m6f chase.

For much of the race it did not seem likely the 11-10 favourite would win. He never seemed to be travelling that well as a searching gallop was set by front-runners Escaria Ten and Cilaos Emery.

However, Mark Walsh coaxed him along and eventually made up ground to challenge between the final two fences before holding off Escaria Ten by a couple of lengths, while Cilaos Emery weakened to finish a further 15 lengths back in third.

The owner's racing manager Frank Berry said: "That was a lovely performance. He's been a great horse and he turns up every day. He ran well at Clonmel and this came up quickly enough but he picked them up well.

"That track would be tight enough for him and it took him a while to warm into it but Mark was very patient on him."

In addition to his 12 career wins, the Joseph O'Brien-trained gelding has been in the first three a further 16 times, underlining his extraordinary consistency.

Berry added: "If you had a yard full of them you would be more than happy, he's just a very good horse. Joseph has done a great job with him."

Asked if the Grand National could be a long-term plan, Berry replied: "We haven't thought that far ahead but I like the way you're thinking!"

McKiernan looking forward

A bumper winner at this venue in March, the Oliver McKiernan-trained No Looking Back made a successful start to his hurdling career by landing the 2m maiden hurdle under Phillip Enright.

The son of Kingston Hill jumped okay and might well have benefitted from the final flight being omitted as he finished strongly in the last furlong to score by three and a half lengths from favourite Innatendue.

McKiernan said: "The way he won there was similar to the way he won his bumper here. At the same time when he hit the front today he didn't do much, but he still had to get there."

He added: "His jumping was pretty okay, he will be sharper the next day, but I'm delighted with him. He's a grand horse and he had the most gears today whether the last hurdle was jumped or not.

"He is a bigger horse than you might think. He wouldn't show you an awful lot at home but he beat some good horses in his bumper, we just needed to see it happening. I would say he will run somewhere over Christmas, and he seems to like that goodish ground."

The final hurdle in the race was dolled off after Mark Walsh suffered a nasty looking fall on the first circuit when riding Hands Of Gold. Thankfully, after several minutes on the ground, he walked back to the ambulance but had to be stood down from his one remaining ride.

Results, replays and analysis

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