Silver Concorde leads Blair Perrone over the last© Photo Healy Racing
Following a number of odds-on reverses here yesterday, the Leopardstown bookmakers were again smiling broadly as Cheltenham Festival Bumper winner Silver Concorde suffered defeat at odds of 1/3 on his jumping debut in the Paddy Power Maiden Hurdle. Blair Perrone (10/1) was the one they cheered home as the Tony Martin-trained gelding travelled strongly to challenge the hot-pot at the last.
Denis OâRegan just needed to push out the five-year-old to score by two lengths, with Gladiator King also trained by Martin, nearly two lengths further back in third.
Martin said, "Things just didn't go right for him the first day at Punchestown when he was too free, and he needed the run badly at Cork the last day.
"He's always showed us that he's a good horse at home. The plan was to stalk the favourite and hopefully take him on as late as possible and it worked out perfect.
"He's a big horse and will make a chaser. He was schooled over fences and hurdles."
President Michael D Higgins enjoyed a day at the races as a guest of Leopardstown, and posed for photos with winning connections after this race.
