THE Laois Foxhounds hosted their annual fixture at the picturesque Stradbally Hall, and the meeting got off to a cracking start in the opening four-year-old maiden as Alan Harney guided the Donnchadh Doyle-trained Endless Talking (5/2 – 6/4) to an emphatic success.

Running in the familiar green and orange colours of Monbeg Syndicate and bred by the late Ronnie O’Neill of Whytemount Stud, this newcomer son of Affinisea created a favourable impression by moving through to lead after the fourth last fence before quickening and drawing clear in the straight to record an impressive 12-length victory from C’mon So.

“Donnchadh liked him a lot and was confident that he would win coming here today,” the winning handler’s brother and representative Gearoid revealed.

“He’s a grand type of horse who does everything well at home and he’ll go to the sales now. We’ve had great luck with Affinisea, his horses suit our job well as they jump and travel and they’re easy to do.”

Wexford winners

There was further success for Wexford handlers in the second race of the afternoon which saw the Pierce Power-trained Go To The Moon (3/1) take up the lead at the halfway stage of the five-year-old geldings’ maiden contest to come home with three lengths to spare over Mulroy Bay.

Although racing with the choke out for most of the first mile, once let roll on by Darragh Higgins after the eighth fence, the Vadamos-sired gelding settled well at the head of affairs and maintained a clear advantage to score in the colours of his winning handler.

Reflecting on the performance, Power stated: “He enjoyed the bit of nicer ground here today and he’s a horse we’ve always liked. I was disappointed coming out of Borris as things just never went right for him on the day.”

THE adjacent maiden will live long in the memory of 27-year-old rider Cathal Connolly and Tipperary handler Conor Ryan as the Anthony Crene-owned Kilmore Coral (4/1) upstaged some more fancied opponents to provide the pair with first career successes.

In what was a dramatic concluding contest, four horses still held claims at the second last fence, where leader Stowaway Lass took a crashing fall while Dollanstown found himself short of running room and exited through the wing.

This left the only two remaining runners, Kilmore Coral and Found Beau, to battle out the finish with the Pillar Coral-sired mare eventually staying on best to take the spoils by five lengths.

“I’m thrilled as this is my first attempt at training and only my second runner after this mare ran at Durrow a couple of weeks ago,” winning handler Ryan remarked.

“I had bought her as a three-year-old and I left her alone as she was a bit handy in stature.

“She’s small but I knew she had a big heart because when I broke her, she showed plenty of courage.”

It was also a red-letter day for Cathal Connolly who was recording an initial career success.

“I’m thrilled with that,” the victorious rider announced.

“I’m very grateful to Conor for the opportunity and want to give Jack O’Grady a mention as he’s done a lot of work with this mare and is currently out due to injury.”

Storming home

Earlier on in the afternoon, Toni Quail steered the Daniel Boland-owned Cosmic Blizzard (5/2) to an all the way victory in the winners-of-three contest for her boss Sam Curling and, in turn, kickstarted the opening leg of a double for the in-form handler by defeating Onyerbike by three lengths.

“I’ll let Toni ride him away for the rest of the season as she’s now only one behind in the ladies’ title race and we’ll give her a good rattle at that for the next few weeks,” Curling explained.

The Tipperary handler is experiencing a significant purple patch at the moment and struck once again 30 minutes later when Wheresmemoneygone (2/1 – 9/4) took the six-year-old and upwards geldings’ maiden in good style in the hands of David Doyle.

It was a fast-paced affair, which saw early pacesetter Depeche Mo have the seven-runner field strung out from an early stage.

The Champs Elysees-sired gelding made smooth progress to lead at the third-last fence and was always in command thereafter to eventually see off Robin Elite by six lengths and complete a quickfire double for Curling, while also sporting the colours of his winning handler.

THE five-year-old and upwards mares’ maiden saw a thrilling conclusion as Dothejive (4/1) and Beacon Storm (4/1) crossed the line as one, having been locked together in a desperately close scrap up the run-in and, after referring to the photograph, the judge could not separate the pair at the finish and called a dead-heat.

Owned by her winning handler’s brother James, Dothejive was initially held up in rear from an early stage by James Cousins before allowing the Vincent Devereux-trained five-year-old to make good progress prior to the penultimate obstacle and soon came with her challenge between the final two fences to eventually force a tie with her more experienced rival.

“She had been placed in a four-year-old mares’ maiden at Lingstown previously and a little bit of better ground helped her here today,” the winning handler’s representative Shane O’Rourke explained.

“I’d imagine if she’s not sold, she will be aimed at a winner’s race or we might even have a look at the mares’ point-to-point bumper at Mallow on Easter Monday.”

The Alexander Ott-trained Beacon Storm was gaining a deserved success after previously filling the runner-up spot on two occasions earlier this season.

“She had good form in the book and enjoyed the nicer ground here today,” rider Luke Burke Ott said of the Neill Hurley-owned eight-year-old. “I’d imagine she’ll be aimed at a winners-of-one in the coming weeks.”

Horse to Follow

Stowaway Lass (S. Curling): She was still in front and held every chance when coming to grief two out in the five-year-old and upwards adjacent maiden. She certainly looks one to note for an older mares’ maiden in the coming weeks.