Ocean Of Mercy routs rivals to belatedly win maiden hurdle The Paul Hennessy trained Ocean Of Mercy belatedly registered a first win over flights when making all under Danny Mullins to easily land the Connolly's RED MILLS Irish EBF Auction Maiden Hurdle at Ballinrobe. A smart bumper horse in his prime, the grey had finished second on his hurdling debut at Bellewstown in August 2022. Subsequently off the track until May of this year, the nine-year-old made a pleasing return to action when fourth at Limerick. Sent off 6/5f to open his account this evening, supporters never had a moments worry as the gelding always travelled strongly at the head of affairs. Kicking on after jumping two out, Ocean Of Mercy went right away from the back of the last to win easily by 13 lengths. Danny Mullins said: "The form he had shown before his break would have been good enough to win this but it was nonetheless a good performance to go out, jump well and put it to bed nicely. "Paul has done a fantastic job training the horse and it is (owner) John Turner's birthday too so it is a little birthday boost for him. The Red Mills Series is great as it has great prizemoney and it justifies a horse like this to keep going. He has earned his keep today and there might be more novice races in the series for him now. "The Turner family gave me a King George win with Tornado Flyer but it is also important for me to be winning through the summer as well, to keep clocking these wins." Riding his first winner since shedding his well-publicised red hairbraids, the jockey quipped "the braids only last a week but they had the desired affect, as it caused a stir!" Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
