Landofhopeandglory© Photo Healy Racing
Landofhopeandglory gained a second Grade 3 win at Roscommon today, as the J.P. McManus owned four year old gelding landed the featured Irish Stallion Farms EBF Kilbegnet Novice Chase.
The son of High Chapparal had finished fourth in the worlds away Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot in 2016 and was today following up a Grade 3 novice hurdle success gained at Fairyhouse last December.
Today, Landofhopeandglory arrived under jockey Mark Walsh to lead approaching the final fence and from there, held off the challenge of McManus’ other runner Rock On Fruity under Barry Geraghty, by length at the line.
Winning trainer Joseph O’Brien was represented by McManus’ racing manager Frank Berry who later said “the second horse (Rock On Fruity) probably threw it away at the second last and that lad battled away well.
“He had a hard old fall in Galway and Mark (Walsh) said he was a little bit cowardly early on today, but he warmed up to it well and got the job done.
“He'll chip away at those novices for the winter and see how he gets on and he seems to handle the conditions quite well.
“It was a lovely race with a grand prize (E23,000 for the winner) and we'll see how he comes out of it.
There will be similar events coming up around the country and trip-wise he's flexible. I'd say going two-and-a-half miles wouldn't be a problem to him and he keeps a bit for himself but maybe that's not a bad thing.”
Quotes from Gary Carson
