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More success for Troytown winner O'Brien

Con's Roc and Darragh Allen  Con's Roc and Darragh Allen
© Healy Racing Photos

On his first start since January, Con's Roc (9/4 fav) was a facile winner of the INHSC Supporting Point-To-Points Hunters Chase at Fairyhouse.

Darragh Allen settled his mount behind the leaders and the Shirocco gelding went to the front after the third-last. The winner, who beat subsequent Cheltenham third Willitgoahead at Limerick last Christmas, went clear after two out and coasted home on the run-in to beat West Of Carrig by 17 lengths.

Still enjoying the aftermath of last weekend's very popular Troytown Chase victory with Answer To Kayf, winning trainer Terence O’Brien said: “That was fantastic. You would always be hoping he’d do that.

“He had a stress fracture in a cannon bone after a run in a point-to-point. He’d been lame on and off all year and we couldn’t make out what was wrong with him. Eventually it was diagnosed with an MRI that he had a stress fracture. They put a pin in it, and he hasn’t taken a lame step since.

“We asked the owners to be patient and go down the hunter chase route again with him. You couldn’t hope for any more than that.

“Hopefully we’ll go to Down Royal at Christmas, and the year will plan itself out after that. Hopefully we might get to Cheltenham, and I think he’s qualified after today.”

Additional reporting by Alan Magee

About Mark Nunan
Mark has followed racing since he was a teenager and worked for many years as a broadcaster with the Irish version of Racecall. He joined the Press Association in 2019 and is also a contributor to the Racing Post. A native of Kildare, he now lives in Sligo.