'It's lovely to give him his first winner' - Found A Diamond gives Shane Markey his first success in the saddle

Shane Markey rode his first winner when the Ross O'Sullivan-trained Found A Diamond denied Rebel Budz by a length and a half to justify 5-6 favouritism in the 2m6½f maiden hurdle.

After 86 rides on the Flat in Ireland and 14 over jumps, Markey had finished in the first three 15 times, and finally got a richly deserved success on the well-backed Found A Diamond. Having settled him in second for much of the contest, Markey found himself three lengths down when Rebel Budz pressed on, but after a good jump at the last the jockey asked him for maximum effort and his mount thundered home to get up a shade cosily.

"It's great for Shane – he was with Anthony McCann for a while and was back with us the last year," said O'Sullivan. "He's a great worker in the yard so it's lovely to give him his first winner. We can't slag him anymore as he was getting plenty of it for some near-misses!"

Hemmings remembered

It was an emotional success for Mick Winters as River Vale fended off Smallcraftwarning by a length in the 2m5½f handicap chase under Shane Fitzgerald.

The 7-1 shot was getting off the mark at the tenth attempt under rules and his victory evoked fond memories of the late Trevor Hemmings, the hugely successful owner who died four years ago this month.

"The late Trevor Hemmings bought him but was buried himself only a fortnight later and they left us the horse," Winters said. "Trevor was kind to people and horses and this was great to win for him and also for the horse's part-owner Tim Cremin, whose son Sean isn't too well. He got the syndicate together. This is very special for a lot of reasons." 

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