Jack Kennedy and Gordon Elliott combined for a quick-fire double at Fairyhouse on Tuesday, with Caldwell Diamond showing a good attitude and probably benefiting from race fitness when staying on strongest under Kennedy to claim the spoils in the Winter Festival 3rd & 4th Dec Maiden Hurdle by a length. The pair were on the mark again very quickly when Eric Bloodaxe, having his first run since joining Cullentra House from Joseph O’Brien, had too much in the tank for the opposition in the 2023 Fairyhouse Membership Hurdle despite looking as if he would improve for the outing and he ran out a two-and-three-quarter-length victor ahead of a planned chasing campaign.
They were at it again in Navan on Sunday, Hollow Games making a considerable impression in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Beginners’ Chase, in which he provided Elliott with the second leg of a double. The winner jumped like a veteran from the front and showed impressive speed to win by four lengths from a strong field, that is likely to yield plenty of winners, with Kennedy getting to enjoy the ride from on top having presented his young charge expertly to the obstacles along the way.
