Celtic Druid leads home McCourt 1-2 in Bellewstown nightcap Local trainer Tom McCourt sent out first and second, as Celtic Druid saw off his better fancied stablemate Maxwell Smart to win the concluding Dore & Co. Solicitors Handicap at Bellewstown. Having shown his first real worthwhile form when third behind a subsequent winner at Leopardstown last month, Celtic Druid took another step forward here to open his account. Prominent throughout under Robert Whearty, the four-year-old headed leader Duleek Street over two furlongs out. Kicking from the front, the 9/1 chance took a couple of lengths out of his rivals that they could never make up. Stablemate Maxwell Smart ran on late from out of the pack to take minor honours but could make no impression on the winner. Tom McCourt said: "I thought we weren't going to get one the way things were going - we had three seconds between yesterday and today. "We are just getting it right with the trip. I trained the half-sister, Lady Scathach, and she was seven (furlongs) to a mile. This one always showed us enough pace at home to do that. That's kind of what I had in my head until he ran in Limerick and was just very one paced. Up to a mile and one in Leopardstown, he improved. Robert thought he would see out a mile and a-half no problem. "He's a grand horse. I was annoyed with the handicapper, he dropped him out of the system two runs back and he's lightly raced, he's only had six or seven runs and he dropped him out - dropped him 4lb or 5lb. I won't have to worry about that for now. "Maxwell Smart (runner-up) was flying home again, maybe just didn't travel as well early on, but he finished out really well."
