McNamara Enjoys Lark-ing About

With the National Hunt season beginning to kick into gear, a number of promising horses for the coming campaign were on show at Galway.

Among these were Clopf, Cailin Alainn and Mister Top Notch, who all struck at the highest level under the jumping code last season.

The talented trio locked horns in the 14-furlong www.swordsecurity.com Race, but things did not go according to plan as Eric McNamara's Larkwing spoiled the party with a convincing success.

Coming with a sustained drive to take up the running soon after entering the straight, the 11-2 chance stuck on well to repel Davy Fitzgerald's Mister Top Notch (10-1).

Clopf arrived on the scene travelling well but faded out of contention, while Cailin Alainn failed to get competitive ? although it later transpired her saddle had slipped.

Winning handler McNamara was delighted to see Robert Jones strike aboard Larkwing, and was full of praise for the youngster.

He said: 'When JT McNamara is unavailable, Robert will ride all of my point-to-point horses this season.

'He's a lovely horse and we'll probably go hurdling again with him now. He's in Leopardstown's November Handicap, but it's unlikely we'll run there.'

(C) PA Sport