PUNCHESTOWN Festival winner Pigeon House (11/4) gained a second success of the summer season when taking the featured Hollymount Nursing Home Handicap Hurdle at a damp Ballinrobe for Jessica Harrington and Mark Walsh.

The Saxon Warrior gelding, owned in partnership by the winning trainer along with Joe O’Flaherty, Mark Phelan and Richie Galway, led between the final two flights and overcame some late waywardness to score by a length and three-quarters from Mordor.

Walsh said: “The slower ground and two-mile two (furlongs) was good for him because sometimes he can’t lie up and all he does is stay.

“There was nothing to take me any further, so I had to go when I did. He’s a bit of a monkey and started hanging out in the straight and idling, but when he heard the other horse coming after him, he picked up again.”

Hard work

Dancing On My Own made hard work of landing odds of 1/2 in the five-runner BoyleSports Best Odds Guaranteed Chase.

The Henry de Bromhead-trained 10-year-old, victorious in valuable handicaps at Aintree and Cheltenham last year, tracked the leaders and was less than fluent at a couple of fences.

Pushed along in second before two out, it was only on the run-in that owner Sean Mulryan’s good servant mastered front-running Je T’ai Porte by a length and three-quarters.

Rider Rachael Blackmore said: “It wasn’t pretty but he’s just not the same horse on that kind of ground. It’s still just summer soft but for his jumping to be at his best, he wants better ground and he was inclined to jump a little bit left here as well.”

Here we go

Paddy Twomey’s Seo Linn (4/5 favourite) was an emphatic winner of the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Fillies Flat Race under Johnny Barry.

Owned by Mrs Ann Phelan and Mrs Bridget Beckett, the daughter of Order Of St George had found one too good over course and distance in May. 

Sent to the front two furlongs out, she went away to beat Tangara Bay by five and a half lengths.

Barry commented: “She came forward a lot, mentally, from her first run. She wouldn’t want extremes but went through that ground well. This race had been the plan for a while and she might go to Gowran Park for a listed bumper in October.”

LINDEN Arden, out of the great Solerina and a half-brother to three winners over the larger obstacles, made a fine start over fences in the Corrib Oil Beginners Chase. 

Ridden for Michael Bowe by Brian Hayes, the 11/1 chance was prominent throughout, jumped soundly and overcame the unwanted attentions of loose market leader Ring O Roses to beat Ossifer Hops by five and a half lengths.

Winning owner-breeder John Bowe remarked: “The ground wasn’t too soft on the chase track and he came on a lot, fitness-wise, for his run at Sligo.”  

Finally

“He only had one schooling session last weekend at the Curragh and seems to have taken well to fences. Solerina is gone two years now, but we have two half-brothers and a half-sister coming along, so we’re looking forward to them.”

Placed in four similar contests including on her second start of the year at Killarney, Lucky Viv (7/2) got a deserved turn in the Paddy Smyth Memorial Mares Maiden Hurdle.

Owned and trained by Fermoy-based Michael ‘Trixie’ Barry, the daughter of Yeats was patiently handled by in-form John Shinnick before making steady headway on the final circuit.

Shinnick steered her through a gap on the inner to lead before the last and the six-year-old stayed on well to score by three and a quarter lengths from Ah Fuhgeddaboudit.

Barry remarked: “She deserved to get her turn. She was wrong earlier in the year, she was tying up, but she came back to herself in Killarney and improved a bit for that run. She’s a genuine mare who’ll probably go handicapping now.”

TELL Me This (9/2) overcame frightful form figures, featuring more letters than numbers, to land the Adare Manor Opportunity Maiden on just her third completed start.  

The daughter of Ask led three out under Tom Harney and defeated Mount Anglesby by five lengths.

Trainer Ross O’Sullivan explained: “She’s a lovely big mare that we got from Nina Carberry. She had a very good first run for us at Downpatrick and has probably handled that ground better than the summer horses.

“Her form figures would put off many a jockey from riding her but Tom knows her well, she is actually very good to jump and will jump a fence in time.”

Veteran

Val O’Brien’s veteran Avec Espoir (13/2) made all under Gary Noonan in the On-Course Bookmakers Handicap Hurdle.

The four-time chase winner, owned by the trainer’s brother Sean, was soon clear and won unchallenged by 14 lengths from I Am Rocco.

“He likes being out in front as he gets nervous amongst horses,” explained the winning trainer.

“He’s a particularly clean jumper of a fence whereas over hurdles horses can be a bit lower and quicker than him. He got a bad fall in Wexford so we brought him back over hurdles to get his confidence back.”