Jack Kennedy rode a winner for Gordon Elliott in front of his home crowd when The Last Mardi took the two and a half-mile maiden hurdle at Killarney on Thursday. The six-year-old runs in the colours of his breeder Sheila O’Ryan and her co-owners Tom and Lenka Meagher, and he made all the running to win by a comfortable four and a quarter lengths from the John Murphy-trained Black Bamboo at odds of 4/5 favourite. Navan-based trainer Cian Collins landed a 1-2 in the mares’ hurdle over the same distance as Presenting Doyen got the better of Effernock Fizz to win. The AP Partnership-owned 11/1 winner came from the back of the field under Rachael Blackmore to score from the 9/4 chance by three and a quarter lengths and the pair were all of 24 length ahead of Sam Curling’s 11/8 favourite Troubled Times which was ridden by Phillip Enright.
Enright landed a winner of his own at Kilbeggan on Friday evening where Toppy’s Boy gave trainer Una Corcoran her first racecourse success when taking the two-mile two-furlong maiden hurdle. The five-year-old is named after the trainer’s late father Tim and he scored at odds of 66/1 when beating the Aidan Howard-trained Edge Of My Seat by three and three-parts of a length. It was a big night for Firies conditional jockey Dillon Butler who notched up his first success when winning the two-mile two-furlong handicap hurdle on the Mark Fahey-trained Thornleigh Frank. The 11/4 favourite went clear from the final hurdle to beat the Declan Queally-trained Natural Look by all of 15 lengths.
