Evergreen 12-year-old Lord Erskine keeps winning The admirable and game Lord Erskine brought up plenty of bets when grabbing his 14th career success in the Deacy Gilligan Hurdle. The race boiled down to a match between the 12-year-old and Run For Oscar after three out and a lovely jump from the leader at the penultimate hurdle saw Run For Oscar come off the bridle in pursuit. The 11/4 shot soon increased his lead under Darragh O'Keeffe and climbed the hill well to jump the last clear. He strode in by some 14 lengths at 11/4 (from as big as 11/1 in the morning) from Run For Oscar (5/2jf). This was certainly an incident-packed race for a small field as Hms Seahorse unseated Peter Smithers four out and the leader, Yeats Star, was carried out before three out by the loose Hms Seahorse leaving Lord Erskine in front. Harry Rogers said: “It’s hard to believe, he’s been in great form all year and even last year. “When they said it had gone good in places here today, I was nearly thinking about withdrawing but Darragh said it was on the slow side of good. It would be yielding to soft ground for the Flat, so that suits him. “He moved out at the right time or he would have been gone as well (at the third last). “He did it well. Hopefully he’ll got to Listowel after that.” Things hadn’t worked out for the winner in the Galway Hurdle (seventh) at the festival and Rogers added: “It was a disaster to see a start like it and then he got interfered with at the first and made a bad mistake. Another horse fell after that at the fourth or fifth and he nearly came down at that as well. “It put him out of it but these things happen, once he was back in the one piece.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson
