Leading Run In Top Trim

Punchestown champion bumper winner Leading Run is in fine fettle despite being turned over at the prohibitive odds of 4-11 on his last start.

Noel Meade's seven-year-old was not eligible to run in the Cheltenham Festival bumper because of his age, but showed he was a leading performer in that sphere when beating Prestbury Park victor Hairy Molly at Punchestown.

And despite showing battling qualities to beat 23 rivals on his hurdling debut at that venue in early October, he was never travelling 10 days later at Navan where he finished nine lengths behind Le Toscan.

However, Meade takes full responsibility for that reverse and believes he turned him out too quickly after a hard race.

'He's fine. I think he got beat because of trainer error. I just ran him too soon after he won his maiden hurdle,' said Meade.

'He had a hard race that day and I shouldn't have got carried away with sending him out again so soon.

'He takes plenty of work and if you leave him alone he gets big, he is a chunky horse.

'The race would have done him no harm but he was never travelling or jumping that day,' he told At The Races.

'He hasn't been rested or anything but we'll leave him for another couple of weeks before we think about his next run. It might be the Grade One Barry and Sandra Kelly Novice Hurdle (Navan, December 17).'

(C) PA Sport