Wardens Whisper eclipsed by eye-catching runner-up Wardens Whisper (6/4f) gave a syndicate of prison officers a first success in Cork’s Goldcrop Novice Handicap Hurdle today, in a race where the performance of runner-up Crescent Moon caught the attention of many. Placed on his last three starts, Wardens Whisper today opened up a clear advantage over Crescent Moon at the second-last and merely maintained that gallop to score. Handicap debutant Crescent Moon, under jockey Sean Flanagan, had arrived into the race travelling well and while six lengths behind Wardens Whisper at the second-last, wasn’t struck with the whip to finish well under a hand ride. The runner-up passed the winning line four lengths behind but the performance was quite notable. Winning trainer Philip Rothwell only had eyes on his winner and later reported “Wardens Whisper deserved that and God he ran his heart out here the last day. Tiernan (Power Roche, winning jockey) is very, very good but I thought at Limerick over Christmas wasn’t his finest moment on this horse. He deserved it and I’m delighted for the lads. “Referencing the name of the horse, his owners are all prison wardens, so hence they are all tiny lads. It was very important for me as I had been facing 20 big lads whenever the horse was beaten! “Simon Besanson heads the syndicate and has been very good to me. We’ll give the horse a little holiday now.”
