Soir De Garde off the mark on chasing debut A half-brother to State Man, the Willie Mullins trained-Soir De Garde made a winning start to his career over fences when landing the opening Dunbrody Beginners Chase at Wexford. Having won a Tramore maiden hurdle last year, the eight-year-old finished runner-up at Leopardstown in March before failing to complete on his latest two runs. Prominent from the outset here, the Mrs Joe Donnelly-owned 11/2 chance headed stablemate Nadia's Boy after the last and, kept on strongly to beat William Tell by a length and a-quarter. Winning jockey Sean O'Keeffe said: "He'll learn plenty jumping-wise, but it was a good performance. He did plenty wrong. He was a little bit keen, but then relaxed halfway through the race and I was able to get a breather into him at the top of the hill. "In fairness, when I got stuck into him he found plenty. His jumping will sharpen up, and hopefully there will be improvement that way."
