Give Battle and Mr Moondance (left) in the air together at the last© Photo Healy Racing
Give Battle ended a frustrating run of near misses when justifying favouritism in the Carlsberg Handicap Hurdle at Sligo.
The Charles Byrnes-trained gelding filled the runner-up spot on his last three outings including at Cork earlier this week but recovered losses here in first time cheek-pieces.
The seven-year-old was backed in from 2/1 this morning and went off the 11/8 favourite for this 2m1f event.
Kevin Brouder produced him to head the front-running Mr Moondance at the final flight, and he kept on well on the run-in to score by a length and three quarters. Jazz Ranger the complete outsider in the ten-runner field, came home well to take the runner-up spot with Mr Moondance in third.
Brouder said, “They went a good strong gallop, and he deserved that win.
“He’s come out of the run in Cork on Monday in good shape and fair play to Charles. He’s a good man and it’s nice to reward him. Hopefully he stays going.”
