Charles Byrnes © Photo Healy Racing
Both Charles Byrnes' runners at Naas today, Rough Terain (3.25pm race) and Hashtag Watt (4.35pm), have been heavily supported, as bookmakers began trimming both horses' prices at the same time this morning.
Byrnes' appeal into the Viking Hoard 'nobbling' case was heard on Tuesday and with the result of a possible suspension of his license still pending, his Naas runners have seen a flurry of morning support, which began at 9.50am.
Out-of-form Rough Terain was a debut bumper winner (6s to 7/4f) for Byrnes at Worcester in June 2019 but carries lifetime form-figures of '167F00-90800' into today's race and finished last on his two most recent starts.
Rough Terain had been backed from 25/1 to 3/1 for today's race prior to the announcement of three notable non-runners in the minutes after 11am. Those non-runners, and the resulting deductions, would come to the rescue of bookmakers with an expected 50c deduction, should Rough Terain win.
In the bumper, Byrnes' newcomer Hashtag Watt , running in a hood, has been supported from 10/1 to 3/1.
Another well backed debutante in the race is the Denis Hogan trained, James McAuley owned Wild Hunt (flat bred by Dubawi) who was an 8/1 chance yesterday and has been backed to 5/1 currently, with top amateur Patrick Mullins booked to ride.
