Le Grand Peinture opens account in impressive fashion Le Grand Peinture benefitted from a fine front-running ride by Jack Gilligan to record an impressive victory in division two of the Mongey Communications Maiden Hurdle at Navan. The lightly raced eight-year-old was having just his second start since joining Lorna Fowler this year and was supported on track from 12/1 into 9/1. Gilligan gave the son of Elusive Pimpernel a breather on the home turn before taking control between the final two flights and galloping on strongly on the run-in to score by an easy 14 lengths. Zoffman took the runner-up spot on his hurdle debut with evens favourite Krak a further half-a-length away in third. Fowler said, "I knew he'd run well but I didn’t expect that. I’ve done very little with him since his last run because he didn’t need it. He’s a happy horse and he was great. “Jack knew what was underneath him. The lead was quite substantial but he was doing it so easy. It was brilliant. “I knew he’d come on from the first run in every way. That gave us a bit of a feel for him. “We’ll talk to the owners but we’ll keep him going now anyway. He’ll love the better ground.” Quotes by Gary Carson
