In-form Karl Thornton said after his scorer Hatch Hall (9/10) became the seventh winning market-leader in as many races at Dundalk: "That was his first time on the all-weather, and he should learn alot from it. He's in again on Friday but we'll probably skip that. We'll probably give him a few weeks off."

Colin Keane did the steering on Hatch Hall in the first split of the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dundalk Handicap and the recent Cork maiden hurdle victor got home by three parts of a length from Esharaat

"If the ground goes bad he'll go to England for a novice hurdle. The horses are really flying at the moment.

"The owner, Gary Ryan, is from Lusk, and motorbike road racing is his main thing. He's one of Michael Dunlop's main sponsors. Hopefully he'll have the horse racing bug now!"

The Stewards interviewed Christina Simpson, rider of Bad News Bear concerning her use of the whip in the latter stages of this race.

Evidence was heard from the rider concerned who stated that she used her whip as her mount was hanging in the straight. Having viewed a recording of the race and considered the evidence the Stewards found the rider in breach of Reg. 10 3 (b) by continuing to use her whip when her chance was gone and having taken her record into account suspended her for three race days.

Furthermore the Stewards found the rider in breach of Rule 213 by failing to report in the first instance anything that may have affected the running of her horse in this race and having taken her record into account the Stewards cautioned her regarding her responsibilities in this regard.

(AM & EM)