Visionarian leads Hannon over the last© Photo Healy Racing
A trip to Galway is now firmly on the agenda for Visionarian after he ran out a good winner of the Shamrock Enterprises Beginners Chase.
Successful on his sole point-to-point start back in 2019, the Peter Fahey trained gelding was making his racecourse debut over fences this evening.
Sent off a 2/1 joint-favourite in the colours of owner Basil Holian, he was settled in third by Denis O’Regan, improving into a share of the lead from three out.
The seven-year-old gained a narrow lead before the next and was pushed out on the run-in to see off the persistent effort of Hannon by three-parts of a length.
The runner-up was the other market leader, with Darragh O'Keeffe aboard this Tom Gibney trained gelding.
The front part drew fifteen lengths clear of Serenity Grove (15/2) and Rachael Blackmore in third.
"It's nice to get a winner for Basil," Fahey said.
"He was coming back after a break and we were actually training him for Cheltenham this year. He done his last bit of work before Cheltenham and worked poor, so we found out that he had very bad ulcers. We gave him plenty of time and in fairness to Basil there was no rush with him.
"We said we'd start him off here with the plan of Galway. He has two options there, the graded novice chase or the Galway Hurdle, we will see closer to the time which way we go. He could sneak into the Galway Hurdle off a low weight, but he jumped great today, so we will see.
"It's great to get him back on track, he is a nice horse. He has strengthened up great and you can see the difference in him.
"The yard is in great form and everyone at home is working great."
