Time For Bucks (left) has ground to make up as Our Dougal leads over the last© Photo Healy Racing
Time For Bucks overcame a five-month break to provide local trainer Shay Barry with his first winner at Tramore in the opening two-mile maiden hurdle.
The improved ground was a big help to the six-year-old gelding whose only previous form of note also came on a sound surface when beating all bar Tiger Trek in a similar event at Thurles last autumn.
However the victory appeared unlikely as Brian O'Connell was hard at work in fourth place approaching the penultimate flight.
The pace-setting Our Dougal looked set to score before the last but the 8/1 chance really knuckled down on the run-in and got up to score by a neck. Definite Lily also came home well in third, while Ruby Walsh was sending out distress signals aboard My Matador after three out and the evens favourite could only manage fifth.
O'Connell was hit with a two-day whip ban for breaching Regulation 10.4 - not giving his mount time to respond.
Barry said, "I'm delighted with him as he hasn't run for a while but I was expecting him to run a big race. I thought he mightn't beat the favourite.
"We got him back in January. He was with Sharon Dunphy and she had a nice job done with him. Brian was good and strong on him. He comes in two mornings a week so he knows the horse.
"There is more work and pressure in this game, the riding was easy! He will keep going on that good ground and hopefully he'll keep improving. He will be kept busy over the summer."
(DM & AM)
