McConnell trains first winner for the 'double green' Trained for Simon Munir and Isaac Souede by John McConnell, Kevin's Pride made hard work of landing odds of 8/11 in the Connolly's RED MILLS Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle at Cork. Runner-up on all four previous starts over hurdles, he was ridden in second when awkward three out but stayed on to lead before the last. Again less than fluent at that final obstacle, he found enough for J J Slevin to score by three-parts of a length from Found A Diamond. McConnell said: "It is great to win primarily because of the owners involved and they have been very patient with the horse and with me, as we had been disappointed with how he had done over hurdles up until now. "He is my first horse for them and I told them he was a nice horse, so they were very good to trust me. "You can see he is not a natural hurdler and jumps a lot better over a chase fence, so that's where he'll be going next, I'd say.  "I had been disappointed with him since his bumper win but there is still a nice horse in him and he has much better use of himself over a chase fence. Today's distance (2m4f) is his minimum and he will come into his own over three miles-plus." Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
