Rusheen wins finale for O'Brien and Enright Bottom-weight Rusheen sprang a 28/1 surprise on his seasonal reappearance and yard debut for trainer Terence O’Brien today, landing Naas’ concluding Clinton Higgins Chartered Accountants Novice Handicap Chase under jockey Philip Enright. The Rusheen Partnership’s eight-year-old had previously scored at Fairyhouse and today, on his first start since April and competing from 1lb out of the handicap, raced prominently to beat Three In A Row by four lengths, with Goraibhmaithagat catching the eye in third. Trainer O'Brien, who landed the Troytown Chase in November, reported “we’re delighted with him and we won this race last year with Answer To Kayf and, the year before, James Dullea (Rusheen's previous trainer) won it. James is involved with this horse and we got him from James so it’s a bit of a coincidence. “All our horses were wrong over Christmas and this fella scoped wrong a few times and didn’t get to run so we’re were a bit disappointed. “He did a couple of nice pieces of work a fortnight ago and was due to run in Thurles but gave himself an over-reach so we just had to take it easy for a few days to let him recover. We came here today really not knowing. I said to the lads that he was working well but I had never got him away and I wasn’t really sure. “He’s a big horse, ground conditions suited and he jumped great. Phillip gave him a super ride. “We got him in the autumn and I wasn’t really sure what to make of him but his work after Christmas definitely improved. He was on an ideal weight, bottom weight, on heavy ground. We’ll see what the handicapper does and keep him to these conditions. “That was his first run in 10 months so you’d be hoping he’d improve a little bit.” Quotes from Gary Carson
