Found A Diamond stays on strongly for Markey & O'Sullivan Found A Diamond showed that stamina is certainly his forte when staying on strongly in the closing stages to take the 3m1f Irish Stallion Farms EBF Handicap Hurdle at Navan. The Ross O’Sullivan-trained gelding, who landed a 2m6f Thurles maiden in October, needed reminders from Shane Markey before halfway but gradually warmed to his task. The 11/2 shot led between the final two flights and kept on really well on the run-in to score by six and a half lengths. The Miracle Man was far from fluent at the last finishing second with Gather Yourself a further five and a half lengths away in third. A strong pace and gruelling ground conditions took their toll with just six of the 13 runners completing the 3m1f event. O'Sullivan said: "Tommy (Ward, owner) loves his racing, he eats and sleeps racing. He's not into golf or anything else, only the racing. It is great to see him get success. He gets a great kick out of it. It is owners that make racing and Tommy is so loyal to me. "Very much appreciated (EBF sponsorship today) for these horses. "Shane is from Monaghan and he would have started off with Anthony (McCann) and then he came down to the RACE school. He did his year in RACE and such a pity it is not there (anymore) because we used to always get jockeys coming through. It was a great grounding and you'd love to see it come back, and I hope it does come back. It needs to come back. "Shane did his grounding there and got pupil of the year. He went to me for a while, then went back to Anthony for a stint, and then came back to me again. Great fella and a very hard worker. "Lovely ride today on a horse that is not very straightforward. He is on and off the bridle, he is a little bit of a monkey, hence the cheekpieces. He had to give him a little flick through the race to kind of keep him concentrating. "He saves plenty for himself, but fair play to Shane. The horse caught him out the last day in Thurles, but he learned from that. He knew exactly what he was going to do with him today." Quotes by Michael Graham
