Clondaw Court is clear at the last© Photo Healy Racing
Clondaw Court gave punters a fright when scrapping home at 2/9 in a maiden hurdle at Leopardstown on St Stephen’s Day but he got the job done a lot more easily in the W T O’Grady Memorial EBF Novice Hurdle.
Ruby Walsh sent the lightly-raced seven-year-old on past the front-running Giantofaman before the second last, and the 4/6 favourite stretched clear to beat Horendus Hulabaloo by a very convincing 18 lengths.
Giantofaman weakened to finish another four and a quarter lengths back in third.
Winning trainer Willie Mullins said, “He jumped like a chaser rather than a hurdler. I’d imagine we’ll be looking at a trip, 2m6f or three miles.
“We thought he was our Cheltenham bumper horse last year but he didn’t make the Festival. We always thought an awful lot of him, and at least he gave an indication today that he’s back to himself.
“Hopefully we get him to Cheltenham this year and back to Punchestown.”
Walsh said, “He didn’t jump great at Leopardstown but there was a terrible shadow at the last hurdle which was the second that day. He landed on it and it frightened the life out of him. He jumped a lot better today.”
Paddy Power cut the winner from 25/1 into 16/1 for the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle, while German firm RaceBets also go 16/1 (from 33/1) for that stamina test at the Festival.
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
