'Wimp' Vodka Society a revelation after being trotted to the races

There was a time when a horse being trotted to the races through the local fields was probably quite a common sight. Maybe not so much in the 21st century, but local trainer David Dunne took that option with the lightly raced 12-year-old Vodka Society and put it down as one of the keys to his runaway success in the 2m5f handicap chase.

It was a completely revelatory performance from Vodka Society who, despite his age, had just 12 career runs under his belt coming into this race and had been sent off at 150-1, 100-1, 20-1, 100-1 and 66-1 on his previous five outings. But this was an extraordinary performance under Sean O'Keeffe as the 18-1 shot made up ground effortlessly from off the pace and careered away in the straight to beat seasoned veteran Highest Benefit by 15 lengths. He was value for a bit more too.

Dunne said: "That was much more like what he has been showing me at home – for years! The one glimmer of hope I had about him was a run at Punchestown a couple of years ago. I would have pulled the plug but for that. He's been very difficult to train and he usually loses his race in the horsebox before he gets to the track. So I actually trotted him to the track to take the idea of the horsebox out of his head!