Another 40/1 winner as Bethpage Theatre scores at Fairyhouse On the back foot after the opening contest, punters were hit hard again as the Peter Fahey-trained Bethpage Theatre battled well to land the GavinLynchRacing.com Mares Maiden Hurdle at Fairyhouse. The second 40/1winner on the day, the Ethan O’Sullivan-ridden five-year-old got the better of Willie Mullins’ 8/13 favourite Rebel Reba from the final hurdle to win by a length and a half with Gordon Elliott’s 7/2 chance Western Shores, carried slightly wide into the straight, only a head away in third place after making a mistake at the last. “She’s been a little bit frustrating; things have been going wrong with her the whole way through. She ran off the bend with Sam (Ewing) the last day in Punchestown,” said Fahey. “She’s a well-bred filly. It definitely wasn’t the strongest of races but it was ideal for us. She’s in the scheme and she gets the bonus. “It’s great for Tom Keane, he gets a lot of lads into bits and pieces of ownership in the yard so I’m delighted for him. His mam took a tumble yesterday and he didn’t get to make it today. Hopefully she’s recovering. “She’s well enough handicapped going forward. We never got a clear run at her. “Her jumping early on was iffy and you could see at the second last that she was rolling out a bit. That’s just her and she might be better going the opposite direction but there’s not much for her. “She’s a lovely filly to have. Whether she does much during the winter I don’t know, she might go off out and come back later in the spring.” Additional reporting from Gary Carson
