Nakassama on top for Kelly and McGill at Downpatrick Joint top-weight Nakassama became the third winning favourite of the afternoon when landing the opening division of the Denvir's Of Downpatrick Qualified Riders Handicap Hurdle at Downpatrick. A strong 11/10 shot in the colours of the All Play & No Work Syndicate, the Noel Kelly-trained six-year-old challenged Ian Donoghue’s front-running 11/1 chance Hitthehayson over the final hurdle and was soon in front to win by four and a quarter-lengths under Oran McGill. McGill said: “He is well able to travel in his comfort zone up that wee bit in distance. “He loves that good ground, and we knew he acted around here, so it was a nice wee race for him. “To be fair to him at Ayr, the ground was probably soft enough for him. He travelled away and just got nabbed. “He came here and did it brilliantly today. “It was simple enough, all the sort of fancied ones were sort of in front of me, so I was just able to track and track for as long as I wanted. Then, just down to the last, get a good jump and go about it from there. “He could improve away on that nice ground in the summer tracks.” Additional reporting by Michael Graham.
