Heads Up makes class count to win his maiden hurdle Runner-up in the Cheltenham Festival Bumper in March, the John McConnell trained Heads Up made an immediate impact on his debut over flights when taking the Connolly's RED MILLS Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle at Listowel. In what was almost a carbon copy of the opening race, the 8/13f led after the first flight, before making the rest under jockey Mark McDonagh. Fourth on his racecourse debut at the festival here last year, the son of Blue Bresil was subsequently second at Galway in October, before registering a first victory at Punchestown the following month. Second in a Navan Listed bumper before Christmas, the gelding was then put away for Cheltenham, where he outran his 33/1 odds to finish runner-up. Jumping and traveling well on his reappearance this afternoon, the John McConnell trained novice made the perfect start to his hurdling career. John McConnell said: "It is a big relief as I felt sicker (with nerves) today than before Cheltenham. He had been jumping very well at home and while we hadn't overdone it schooling-wise or work-wise, there is improvement left. "He is in a good while but we had taken our time so he wasn't fully wound up. He had done enough to come here but, because of the way the ground had been, we haven't been able to school him on grass. He also hasn't schooled at today's speed, so there are reasons to be happy and we can go forward now. "We always knew he was a really nice horse so we weren't that shocked to see him run so well at Cheltenham. Before sending him home for the summer, we did two weeks schooling with him and he was very quick to jump. "The owners (Darragh McDonagh, uncle of winning jockey) aren't too far from here so this was always the plan and there's a good crowd of them here. "We'll go back to Cheltenham in November now which is a great meeting to go to and while he could be a 2m4f type horse, I don't mind if he is a two-miler either." Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
