Cromwell lands Leinster National with The Lovely Man The featured BAR 1 Betting Leinster National at Naas was a thriller which had a painful late sting in the tail for trainer Colm Murphy. Coming to the final fence in the 100,000 euro contest over just short of three miles, one furlong, Built By Ballymore led narrowly from Murphy's 10/3 favourite Goraibhmaithagat with The Lovely Man sticking to his task back in third. Built By Ballymore lurched left at the final fence and collided with Goraibhmaithagat, sending the former's rider Gavin Brouder out the side door. The market leader was left a few lengths clear of The Lovely Man (12/1) but the latter, formerly trained by Murphy and now in the care of Gavin Cromwell, stayed on strongly to get up near the line for a head success. Owned by the Wild Guy Syndicate, The Lovely Man has now won three of his five starts since switching stables.  Winning rider Conor Stone-Walsh commented “I was under pressure from a good bit out, but in fairness to him he kept going.  “He jumped super the whole way, pecked at one but other than that he was brilliant, and he galloped the whole way to the line.  “When we were going to the last, I could feel him picking up and he finished strong. I was just hoping he’d get there, and thankfully he did.”   Additional reporting by Gary Carson
