'There's probably something at Galway for him' - Ryan on top in feature

Friday: Killarney

Tipperary trainer John Ryan saddled the first two home in the feature 2m1f handicap chase in front of a huge crowd.

The Dara Man, ridden by Danny Mullins, led home stablemate Ferdia, partnered by Philip Donovan, to land a third career success by nine lengths, with Espion Du Chenet a further 11 lengths adrift in third.

Mullins made all on the son of Stowaway, who is still a novice for the rest of the season, and his mount put in a super round of jumping, rarely seeing another rival on his way to a commanding win.

Ryan said: "That was the plan. He's had a few issues, but we seem to have got on top of them and he looks a fair horse. He'll run in novice chases for the rest of the summer. There's probably something at Galway for him.

"I thought Ferdia might catch him in the straight, but Danny gave The Dara Man a super ride. Ferdia is only a six-year-old so he’s a year behind the other one, but he’s one of my favourite horses, and he could run again at Tipperary on Sunday.”

Elliott on fire

Gordon Elliott continued his terrific run of form with a 6-1 double, while Jack Kennedy also partnered two winners on the card to make it nine winners in the last 14 days.

New recruit The Insider got the afternoon under way when scoring for Elliott in the opening three-year-old maiden hurdle under Jordan Gainford, while Ash Tree Meadow justified odds-on favouritism to land his hat-trick under Kennedy in good style in the 2m1f novice chase.

On Ash Tree Meadow’s success, Elliott said: “He's done it well. He’s been good at Perth the last couple of times and I’m going to give him a break – he’ll go to Cheltenham in October. Jack said he was very good with his jumping, he danced at them. He’ll take a break now."

The Elliott-trained Chargo fell in the race won by The Insider, and the trainer added: "Chargo was probably the more fancied one, but it's racing and you have to jump. The Insider travelled into it well. Jordan said they went quick and he was going well coming in and stuck at it well. We bought him for America, so that's where we plan to go.”

One of the performances of the day came from Kennedy’s first winner, the Paul Power-trained Shannon Glory, who won the 2m7f mares' maiden hurdle by 12 lengths.

The five-year-old had shaped well her two previous outings and was always prominent under Kennedy, who brought the 100-30 favourite to the front at the top of the straight before coasting to victory.

Power said: “She couldn't handle the winter ground and was disappointing in a few point-to-points. She hasn't run a bad race on solid ground. She met a few traffic problems in her other two runs, so we rode her a bit handier and it worked out great. We'll probably aim her at a mares' novice at Listowel now.”

Results, replays and analysis

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