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Gary Carson

Gary Carson

Diamond lands double for Elliott and Russell

Sat 24th Mar 2018, 16:54

Diamond King Diamond King
© Photo Healy Racing

Diamond King have Gordon Elliott and Davy Russell a double on the day when running out a straight-forward winner of the Enjoy White Gypsy @ Finns Borrisoleigh Hurdle at Thurles.

The former Coral Cup winner was sent to post the 8/13 favourite for the two-mile seven contest and jumped into the lead at the third last flight.

He had things in control at the penultimate flight but Russell just needed to keep him up to his work on the run-in to beat 25/1 shot Smokey Joe Joe by a length.

The winner had been pulled up early in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham on his last outing after getting badly hampered at the second flight.

"He hated that ground but the conditions of the race suited him and that's why I ran him. He was at the pin of his collar to win on that ground and the trip wouldn't be ideal either,” said Elliott.

"Davy pulled him up wisely the last day and he can now go to Punchestown for whatever race we can find."

(Quotes by Tom Weekes)

About Gary Carson
Gary started out as a trainee/assistant journalist with the Sporting Life newspaper and has worked in the racing industry for over 25 years. He has been with the Press Association since 2013 and won the Irish Field Nap Table in 2016. He enjoys working with horses and trained his own horse, Mamaslittlestar, to win a point-to-point in 2019.