Nitty Gritty gets up late to shed maiden status Having made an encouraging reappearance at Ballinrobe, the Joseph O'Brien trained Nitty Gritty came forward from that run to register a first success over flights in the opening Laurels Pub Maiden Hurdle at Killarney. Always prominent under J J Slevin, the 9/4f sat in the first half dozen throughout. Sean Flanagan led from the fourth on Cocovic, pressing on entering the straight. Both Slevin and Gary Noonan on Fast Felix covered that move, going second and third respectively. As the latter gave way after two out, the race developed into a match between Cocovic and Nitty Gritty. Slevin drew alongside the leader jumping the final flight, eventually asserting on the short run-in to score by half-a-length. Slevin reported: "It looked like he was on the losing end coming to the last but he got a good jump, stuck out his head and tried hard. We didn't go mad fast but it was a good performance. "He had a nice run the last day, which was his first run after a break, and has definitely come forward from that." Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes.
