Larkins Lane 'in a good vein of form' Larkins Lane won a battle with Brave Josee to take the honours in the Knocknarea Handicap Hurdle over and extended two-and-a-half-miles at Sligo. The seven-year-old mare crept her way into contention and loomed large in third on the outer two out. Brave Josee took over in jumping there and was soon joined by Larkins Lane as the pair raced towards the last. Philip Rothwell's Larkins Lane was a very fractional leader in tackling that flight, but halfway up the run-in she finished better and began to assert. The 4/1 joint favourite forged on by two and three quarter lengths from 4/1 joint favourite Brave Josee. Love Like This was a length and a half back in third at 10/1. Larkins Lane raced off a mark of 78, 6lb higher than when winning by a neck in Limerick towards the end of May. Jockey Shane O'Callaghan said: "I didn't want to be so far back, but I was turned sideways at the start. I stayed a bit wide for fresher ground and let her jump her way into it. She missed the third-lastm but I followed Declan Queally's horse (Brave Josee) through after two out and said I'd have one go at her. "The plan was to go for a carbon copy of what Tiernan (Power Roche) did at Limerick, but it's easier said than done. "She can be a little bit hot, but seems in a good vein of form at the moment and a stiff two and a-half miles like this is perfect for her." Additional reporting by Mark Nunan
