'He's been a big help to me' - Luminaries makes it four wins in five for Ewan Whillans

Ewan Whillans believes the key to Luminaries's success has been to keep him happy after a fourth win in five starts in the 3m½f handicap hurdle.

The eight-year-old, who bounced back to winning ways after being pulled up at Bangor last month, helped boost his trainer's strike-rate to 33 per cent (3-9) in the last fortnight when denying 15-8 favourite Wee Alki by a neck.

"He's been absolutely brilliant for the yard and he's been a big help to me," said Whillans. "He's very easy to train at home and he goes out with three or four horses every day, but he doesn't want a lot of hard work.

"When we got him last year, we got to the bottom of his problems and he seems a lot happier now. He's probably better in a smaller yard. After his last run at Bangor, when he was disappointing, we just chucked him in a field for a week and he's not done a lot of hard work since."

Sean Quinlan, who steered Luminaries to another success, was completing a double on the day after landing the opening 2m novice hurdle with the Jennie Candlish-trained Pergamon.

Cian collects

A rare visit to Britain paid off for County Meath-based Cian Collins, who saddled Impero to victory in the feature 2m handicap hurdle.

Ridden by Jordan Gainford, the six-year-old made it a fifth success for the trainer after adding to victories at Downpatrick, Cheltenham and Musselburgh in October and November, as well as at Ballinrobe last month.

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