First hurdle success for Midleton Rare Bumper winner Midleton Rare (5/1) bounced back to form in winning Limerick’s LubriSyn Handicap Hurdle today, scoring for owners the Four Provinces Of Ireland Syndicate, trainer Ian Donoghue and jockey Sam Ewing. A Fairyhouse bumper winner in January 2023, the seven-year-old today debuted for Donoghue and hunted down front-runner Tir Og, who blundered at the second-last, to lead approaching the final flight, to defeat that rival by 1.75 lengths. Donoghue stated “I had him as a four-year-old and we always liked him. He got sold to Dermot (McLoughlin, previous trainer) and won his bumper for Dermot, which we always thought he'd do. Then he was very disappointing but I think he had some niggly problems. “We got him about three months ago, he came in from his holidays but was very bad with his feet so we owe that to our farrier, who has did a great job with him. The slower ground was a big help to him. He'll hopefully get some confidence with that and we can mix it between chasing with him.”
