King Of the Picts has the lead over the last in Tipperary© Photo Healy Racing
A slick jump at the last allowed King Of The Picts to fend off the closing Que Pasa in Tipperary’s Grade 3 Dolores Purcell Memorial Novice Hurdle.
Pat Shanahan’s four-year-old son of Rock Of Gibraltar was always in the front rank in this two-mile race. He tracked the leader Un Beau Roman on their way round and moved past that rival two from home.
Que Pasa jumped the last well, but despite cutting into the lead on the run-in couldn’t get on terms with King Of The Picts who was kept up to his work by Andrew McNamara to score at 12/1. The runner-up was 11/4 joint favourite and she went down by a length and a half with Barry Geraghty in the saddle. Shamar (10/1) completed the placings the same distance further back.
“He loves jumping and he’s a real natural at it. He’s not a good work horse at home so we wanted to run him here to see how good he was,” handler Pat Shanahan explained.
“He was unlucky at Listowel, he got caught on the line, but his heart is in the right place. He’ll go to the Cheltenham meeting in November.” Curley Bill went off the other 11/4 joint favourite, but Noel Meade’s charge didn’t fire in fifth. Davy Condon, reported to the Stewards' Secretaries that his mount ran flat.
Additional reporting by Thomas Weekes
