Christmas comes early for Young Rebel's connections Young Rebel surged home from an unpromising position on debut to win the bumper at Fairyhouse for Mags Mullins and Anna McGuinness. He came under a drive in eighth a-quarter of a mile from home and, although he made good headway into third, he still had plenty on his plate to trouble the clear leaders Moonverrin and Grangeclare Park. Grangeclare Park was first to crack and Young Rebel rattled past him inside the final 150 yards. Moonverrin was then all out in the closing stages and Young Rebel took aim and passed him close home. The winner prevailed by a length in the end at 12/1 from the 40/1 runner-up. Grangeclare West, the 6/5 favourite, was another two and a-half lengths back in third. There was an almighty plunge on Eoin Griffin's newcomer Let's Go La Fichad from 50/1 to 9/2, but he finished 12th. Mullins said: “That was lovely. He worked here about three weeks ago and worked lovely. “He bumped early in the race and she gave him a lovely ride, she’s a good girl to ride. She never gave up and rode him the whole way to the line, and he kept answering. “He’s a big galloping horse, a nice horse, and I like him. “There were some well-priced horses in the race and you’d be saying ‘what are you doing here?’- I’m delighted. “We won this race a couple of years ago with a nice horse (Downtown Getaway in 2017). We love him at home and Crystal Ocean is a good sire.” When asked if the winner is for sale she added: “He probably is. We’ll how he comes out of it and see where we go. “The other man that is in on him, Paddy Hogan, has gone on holidays. He said ‘I won’t even know if he wins because I’ll be on the plane’. “I said I’d text him 'Happy Christmas' if he wins, so he’ll be delighted. “He’s a great owner, he had Springwell Bay with me. He’s a great man and he’ll be delighted so I better do my 'Happy Christmas' thing with him now!” Young Rebel was given a first show of 25/1 for the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival by Paddy Power. Additional reporting by Gary Carson
