AN absolutely amazing run of form for Darragh O’Keeffe continued into this fixture as he notched up another double which put the rider on the 26-winner mark for what is already shaping up to be an unforgettable campaign.

Just 13 months after riding his first winner, O’Keeffe’s tally for the season at the end of this fixture would have been good enough to win him last season’s conditional rider’s championship, and it would have guaranteed him the runner-up spot in this division in the previous two campaigns. The rider completed his brace on Michael Hourigan’s Humm Baby in the Kieran Kelly Memorial Beginners Chase. Make My Heart Fly looked to have been left in charge here when Eamon High fell three out but the former had no answer to Humm Baby’s sustained charge which carried the Chris Tilly-owned daughter of Mahler to the front after the last. The well-backed 100/30 shot had two and three-quarter lengths to spare at the line.

Best of pals

“This race meant so much to me and it is wonderful to win it as I have been trying to for many years. Kieran Kelly, my son Paul and Jamie Spencer were the very best of pals and they were joined at the hip,” reflected Hourigan, whose charge could now head to Listowel where she has won twice before.

Hourigan also enjoyed a double as he was successful with Finding Joy (20/1) in the 80-95 rated Pig ‘N’ Whistle Pubs Handicap Hurdle. Trevor Ryan was on board this daughter of Yeats who did well to win on her handicap debut. Myladyrose, whose jockey Martin Mooney picked up a four-day whip ban, bagged the crucial inside rail position after the last which looked to have secured the outcome but Ryan conjured a tremendous late flourish from his mount to grab victory in the final yards.

The 9/4 favourite Luis Van Zandt was found to be coughing after pulling up, and Liam Gilligan was suspended for three days after weighing in at 1.2lbs overweight on the third-placed Ishyaboi.

Meanwhile, the first leg of O’Keeffe’s brace came aboard the John Nicholson-owned and trained Pat Coyne (8/1) in the near two-and-a-half-mile maiden hurdle. In a race where the odds-on jumper newcomer Guiri, a Group 3-placed runner in Germany, was a spent force some way from home, the 94-rated Pat Coyne produce much his best effort to date to hand out a six-length beating to Liars Corner.