Gleeson scents success and Le Labo delivers Le Labo (6/1) broke his maiden over flights in style when landing the Kingsfurze Novice Hurdle at Naas under John Gleeson. A bumper winner last year, the Mount Nelson homebred had failed to complete in a pair of maiden hurdle outings, including a last-flight fall when in front at Cork in December. Here, he was held up at the back of the five-runner field before covering the move of 11/10 favourite Blake as that one improved to lead approaching the last. A close second at that final hurdle, Le Labo got the better of a good tussle between the pair to take the Grade 3 contest by a neck. The winner just rolled in left-handed on the run-in and made contact with the runner-up, but there was no alteration to the result following a stewards' enquiry.  Joseph O'Brien trains the six-year-old for Jonathan Palmer-Brown and the winning rider's mother, Claire. “I suppose he’s been a bit unlucky in his two starts," said John Gleeson.   “He got sandwiched at the first in Thurles and he did everything right, bar a bit of bad luck, the last day in Cork.  “He’s a horse that we’ve always liked. We decided to go here today, with a smaller field, to give him another nice experience and if it happened, it happened. Thankfully it did.  “I quite happy to follow. I thought the pace was even and the ground is a bit dead.  “He’s a horse with a nice turn of foot, and I’d say, a nice touch of class as well. I think he’s a horse that’s going to keep improving and he’s one for the future.  “That was a nice start back for him. There are a couple of nice options for him in the spring and he’s a horse that we’ll have a bit of fun with, hopefully.”   Additional reporting by Gary Carson
