Rory O'Moore and Andrew McNamara are clear over the last© Photo Healy Racing
Rory O'Moore has ways of making decent rivals look ordinary and the Ronnie O'Neill trained triple bumper winner shed his maiden tag over hurdles at Naas today, routing the field in the opening www.naasracecourse.com Maiden Hurdle.
Ridden by Andrew McNamara, the son of Stowaway led after the second and soon raced into his customary clear early lead. Eight to eleven favourite Operating under Barry Geraghty, went in pursuit at the fourth last and while Rory O'Moore was untidy at he next, Operating was unable to bridge the long gap.
Rory O'Moore maintained his relentless gallop all the way up the straight, and at the line was an eased down 31 lengths winner over Operating with a further 11 lengths back to Blissful Moment
Afterwards O'Neill stated “that was good – I was surprised he won as well as he did though!
“He prefers going left-handed and thats two runs and two wins here. Andrew is getting to know him now and it worked out well today - he got a lead early on, settled and then he slipped on. He got his own way and then he was gone.
“He loves here and Navan and we'll look for a better race for him next.”
The manner of Rory O'Moore's, rated just 112 coming into the race, easy win today suggests his recent Galway conqueror Shrapnel (one-time thoroughly frustrating) may well prove a horse to follow for the winter months.
Further reporting by Gary Carson
