Lady Boulea (centre) leads the way in the opener at Wexford© Photo Healy Racing
Former winning point-to-pointer Lady Boulea opened her account under rules when making all to land division one of the Ingard Point Maiden Hurdle at Wexford.
The 5/1 chance jumped well for leading claiming rider Mark Enright, and stayed on well in the straight to account for El Soro (16/1), who pulled hard early, by a length and a half. Cloone Springs (11/2) was prominent throughout but could find no extra approaching the last to finish another length and a half adrift in third.
The uneasy 100/30 favourite Off The Charts could never get in a blow, and kept on onepaced to finish sixth.
Harney said, “It’s been a terrible job just to get her right. My wife Imelda bred her, and she is owned by Michael Barrett from Ballingarry. He rode quite a few winners including a Conyngham Cup at Punchestown.
“She won a point-to-point and jumping is her forte. Usually there are 8 hurdles in a two-mile hurdle race but there are 11 today and that helped her.”
Additional reporting by Donal Murphy
