Walk makes most of lower hurdle mark Grange Walk survived a scare at the last to land the spoils in the Ishka Irish Spring Water Handicap Hurdle for trainer John Ryan. The 10-year-old, racing off a 12lb lower mark over hurdles compared to his chase rating, travelled well to close before the second last but had to be switched out by Dan King to get a run. He landed in a narrow lead over the penultimate flight and asserted down to the last, only to step at the flight. The chestnut soon recovered and went on to post a two-and-a-half length win over Slip Jig. “He fell a lot of days when he had races won and had a lot of hard luck, so deserved that. He is a good horse and was always going to win a hurdle off that mark,” said Ryan. "He was once rated 145 over fences so would be different class to those." (Quotes by Tom Weekes)
