Priory Park and Mark Walsh © Photo Healy Racing
Mark Walsh was seen at his patient best when guiding Priory Park to take the 28-runner Irish Daily Star Christmas Handicap Hurdle at Leopardstown.
Considering the large field and competitive nature of this 2m4f event, very few got involved in the straight where the final hurdle was omitted due to the angle of the low-lying sun.
The front-running Nazine had most of his rivals in trouble early in the straight but Walsh bided his time on the Edward O’Grady-trained gelding waiting until inside the final 100 yards before really asking for an effort.
Th 9/2 joint favourite, who was following up a win at Thurles last month, responded well to beat Nazine by a length and a quarter with Silvertown keeping on a further five and a half lengths away in third. Carrig Rock cold find no extra inside the final furlong eventually finishing fourth.
O’Grady said, “Mark said they went a very moderate gallop and I was very worried with the last hurdle being missed because jumping is his forte but you'd have to say he did it quite nicely.
“He had him in position A all the time. We'll see what they would like to do with him now. He'll go up a little bit.
“It's lovely to have a winner here, we didn't have too many runners. I bought him as a foal so I'm delighted.”
(GC & AM)
