Riaan back to form to give Elliott Sligo brace The Gordon Elliott trained Riaan brought up a double for the Meath man when returning to form to beat a quartet of rivals in the Solar Generation Chase at Sligo. Having failed to complete on his first two starts of the season, the gelding was well beaten at Galway last time. However, back in a smaller field here, the eight-year-old travelled strongly off the pace, before moving through to throw down a challenge after two out. Heading Jessie Evans and Facile Mode at the last, Riann stayed on best on the run-in to score by three-and-three-quarter lengths. Winning jockey Danny Gilligan said: "I'm delighted for the horse to get his head back in front. A small-runner field suited him and we didn't go a crazy gallop. "I was just following them around and kind of riding him to pick up whatever pieces I could, and it all worked out well. "He picked up well going to the last and probably wasn't doing a whole pile in front." Additional reporting by Mark Nunan.
