Step up in trip sees Lieutenant Mayne come home clear A first crack at three miles in the Support The Irish Injured Jockeys Hurdle at Wexford didn't inconvenience Lieutenant Mayne as he ran out the winner by a more than healthy 11 lengths. The 7/4 favourite tracked Ash Tree Meadow throughout and jumped the fourth last better to hit the front. Ash Tree Meadow began to toil on the run to the penultimate flight and was passed in second by Tag Man. Tiernan Power Roche exuded confidence aboard six-year-old gelding Lieutenant Mayne who really began to crank up the pressure on Tag Man before the two out. Lieutenant Mayne didn't relent as he moved clear on the run-in and was eased down in the closing stages to comprehensively beat Tag Man. John McConnell said: "He is a very, very nice horse and we always thought he was. He lost his way a bit during the winter. He had a few little issues that we sorted out. "He just ground it out at Chepstow and just stayed. "It was a small field, but it wasn't a bad race there and all he did was stay. I was confident the three miles today would be up his street. "He is really nice and is only a six-year-old. Gordon's horse (Elliott, Ash Tree Meadow) probably has other targets, but he could still only do what he did and he did it very nicely. "It's like he is on springs, he is some jumper - he is really exciting. "I must say a special thanks to the McNeill and Stone families as they wouldn't be big fans of keeping them in training this long, but I kind of insisted that he'd stay in and at least have one more run. He'll probably have a little break now and we'll probably go chasing with him but we'll see." Additional reporting by Donal Murphy
