Clarens dubbed a 'little machine' after his latest win Carrying the colours of the Miracle Racing Syndicate, Clarens registered a third win from his last four starts, as he led home nine rivals in the feature at Wexford, the Poolcourt Engineering Handicap Chase. Twice successful at Tramore in recent months, the John Flavin-trained eight-year-old was sent off a 6/1 chance this afternoon. Leading and disputing throughout, he gained a definite advantage from the third last, but was pressed by She's A Fine Wine approaching the straight. Pushed along by Danny Gilligan and going on again before the final fence, he was ridden out on the run-in and had four-lengths to spare at the line. The Tom Gibney-trained Mr Saxobeat (10/1) came through to take second under Phillip Enright, while the aforementioned She's A Fine Wine (11/4jf) was another length-and-a-quarter back in third. The other joint-favourite was Ho My Lord, with this one finishing fifth. "He is some little machine of a horse," Flavin enthused. "Since he started over fences he is just after turning inside out. He jumps like a stag and Danny said he was nearly trying to hold on to him every step of the way. "He had 12st the last day around Tramore and that was a bit of the slog. He had a nice weight today and thought he was nearly on his own going around there. "The fences around here and Tramore sort of suit him because they are not mad big. He can get away with nearly hurdling them and there was a lot of horses in behind him making mistakes. "Today was the main plan and we'll just have to have a look now and see what the handicapper does and what races are there for him. "That's his first time winning over that trip and it'll open up more options for us. He done all his winning over two-miles before but he hit the line well there. "I thought going down to the second last that he might be under pressure, but when he saw the last two he kicked on again and won well enough in the end."
