Olly Murphy looking to the future after claiming novice hurdle double
Olly Murphy and Aidan Coleman won both divisions of the 2m½f novice hurdle with a pair of exciting prospects to continue the trainer's fine form.
Go Dante got proceedings under way when taking advantage of Black Poppy's fall at the penultimate fence to register a 18-length success.
Murphy said: "He was raw and babyish, obviously Kerry Lee's horse took a fall at the second-last, which wasn't nice to see, but my lad was only getting going.
"There's an awful lot of improvement in him, he's never jumped on grass in his life and I think you're just going to see him improve in the coming months."
Contrastingly, Washington did not need any help in running, winning impressively despite evident immaturity.
"He did everything wrong today, he didn't do one thing right, bar jump well," said Murphy. "He was far too keen and did everything I didn't want him to do, but still won impressively. He's obviously a very talented horse to stay the way he did after using so much energy throughout the race.
"He needs to learn to race in the right manner and if he does do that, he's going be an exciting prospect - but he's got to learn.”
McCain maintains great form
Trainer Donald McCain started the day with a healthy 34 per cent strike-rate (11-32) in the last fortnight and added to his recent gains when Could Be Trouble landed the 2m3½ mares' handicap hurdle under Brian Hughes.
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