Gavin Brouder enjoyed a welcome change of luck after a difficult year with injuries by recording a big-priced double at Sligo on Tuesday night. The Listowel pilot displayed tremendous horsemanship when keeping a lid on My Manekineko when the James Nash-trained gelding threatened to overrace and that proved decisive as he galloped all the way to the line to record his eighth career success in the Easkey Handicap Hurdle at 20/1. Brouder teamed up with Norman Lee to take the next race, the Adare Manor Opportunity Handicap Hurdle on board Oskar High, who went off at 16/1 but enjoyed the yielding going and being kept wide throughout to avoid the chopped-up ground, prevailing by a half-length.
Tralee rider Bryan Cooper was a multiple victor later on the week, recording a double in Kilbeggan on Friday evening. The Gold Cup-winning jockey got a lovely tune out of the John Ryan-trained Presenting Bonnie to win the Bloomfield House Hotel Handicap Hurdle by five and a half lengths and doubled up for the same handler as Fairyhill Run was equally convincing, setting herself up for a tilt at bigger prizes in the staying division down the line as a result of her six-length triumph in the Kilbeggan Handicap Chase. Gavin Brouder built on his own double three days earlier with another winner, teaming up with Mick Winters and the hugely impressive Dark Spark to claim the two-mile Hurley Family Maiden Hurdle in facile fashion, the rider’s seven-pounds claim undoubtedly helping to make the job even easier.
