Puma makes it third time lucky Puma’s Dream ran out a convincing winner of the two-and-a-half mile maiden hurdle at Thurles, making it third time lucky over timber. The Gordon Elliott-trained gelding had been fourth on his last outing at Naas, having taken a step forward from his debut effort, when mid-division in Cork. He went to post a 6/1 shot in today’s contest and was produced to lead over the second last by Jack Kennedy. The Ocovango gelding stayed on strongly in the closing stages to record a two-and-three-quarter length success. Powerful Paddy, a well-backed 6/4 favourite on his first start for Willie Mullins, finished off well to grab second late on. His stable-mate, the easy-to-back Fou De Toi (13/8), finished back in fourth. Assistant Lisa O’Neill said:- "The Rabbitt's, from Athenry, bred him themselves and are all here today so it is special to see your homebred win. He is a much bigger horse than his half-brother Maxxum. "It is great that he has built on every run and while he we thought he was well capable of doing that today, it is was nice to see him do it. “He is a novice for the rest of the season now (until December 1st) and hopefully he can now go on." (Quotes by Tom Weekes)
