Shanahan earns plaudits for Be Fierce ride Easy-to-back Be Fierce (10/1) held on from fast-finishing Where Are You Now at the end of an extended two-miles in the John Thomas McNamara (Q.R.) Handicap Hurdle at Punchestown. Lee Shanahan rode a patient race aboard the nine-year-old gelding who still had plenty of horses in front of him straightening for home. Shanahan switched him to the far rail and the pair availed of a lovely seam to sweep to the front just before the last. They winged it and looked home for all money with a two-length lead in the closing stages. That wasn't the case, though, as 15/8 favourite Where Are You Now really picked up the chase and closed up to within a head at the line. Couldntmakeitup was almost four lengths away in third at 4/1. Ted Walsh said: "The young lad gave him a great ride. “He has a run in him about the length of the parade ring and he was trotting going to the line. He jumps like a stag, but has a short run in him. “He won twice around Tramore, a sharp track with a short run-in. If he wings the last, he might hold on and both times he hung on. “Michael O’Sullivan, God rest him, won on him on New Year’s Day last year and Shane O’Callaghan also won on him. “The inside track here is easy and it was a weak race. He got a lovely ride and everything went spot on for him. “He’s owned by nice people, the Morans - husband and wife Michael and Anne. Betty Moran (Michael’s mother) owned Papillon.” Additional reporting by Gary Carson
