'This is our Cheltenham' - special day for the Holdens as Karuma Grey lands the spoils on their sponsorship day

The Ellmarie Holden-trained Karuma Grey stayed on gamely to land division two of the Goresbridge Maiden Hurdle to seal a special day for the Holden family. 

The five-year-old was racing in the colours of Paul Holden, who sponsored the raceday through his equipment rental company Holden Plant Rentals. 

The son of Jukebox Jury was getting off the mark on his fourth attempt under rules and raced prominently in the early stages under jockey Diarmuid Moloney.

After travelling strongly, a mistake at the second-last halted his momentum briefly before he corrected himself at the final flight and powered to the line to defeat the Joseph O'Brien-trained 13-8 favourite Libby by two lengths.

 "We came here with two maidens and we weren’t overly confident as there were a couple of very well fancied horses in both races," the owner said. "We just found it hard to get the key to Karuma Grey. He fell on his first point-to-point and it knocked his confidence a bit.

"He enjoyed that ground and we changed tactics and were a bit more positive on him. We'll probably go to the sale with him now. He’s a proper stamp of a horse and has all the makings of a nice prospect in the future."

Holden's yard in Ballyhale has housed some top prospects, some of which will line up at next week's Cheltenham Festival, including Arkle favourite Jonbon and the Willie Mullins-trained Sir Gerhard.

Holden said: "They are honouring the Shamrocks All-Ireland winning team today and it was the 50th anniversary of the club in 2022. It’s also our sponsorship day so this is like our Cheltenham."

Ardera makes it a fine day for local trainers

It was another local family affair in the BoyleSports Handicap Hurdle when Ardera Ru landed the spoils under Shane O'Callaghan for trainer Eoin Doyle's South Kilkenny-based stable and owner Pauline Doyle.

The eight-year-old mare looked to be extending away after the last but gave her backers a fright when idling in front and allowing Early Arrival to get within a neck.

"She's improving the whole time and has a nice mark over fences so we can explore that," the trainer said. "We were running her during the summer last year but I’d say she wasn’t handling that good ground, she wants it soft."

Grange Walk landed the feature handicap chase for trainer John Ryan and jockey Liam Quinlan at 20-1. The eight-year-old battled back well when briefly headed by Minx Tiara after the last. The trainer nominated Aintree as the next potential target for the eight-year-old.

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