'She's in foal and flying' - Hidden Land earns third course win in front of Liverpool-based owner

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A dry night and a drying breeze took the word yielding out of the ground description for the second day of this Downpatrick meeting, and the genuinely good ground seemed to favour front-runners as two of the feature winners were the beneficiaries of positive rides.

Kevin Sexton was a late replacement to ride the Andrew Kinirons-trained Hidden Land in the 2m3f mares' handicap hurdle, and he certainly made it count as the seven-year-old earned her third success at this track. 

Taking it up well before halfway, she dominated proceedings from there, drawing further clear and ultimately scoring by 11 lengths from Betty Dutton, who finished well clear of the remainder. 

Kinirons said: "She loves it here. She couldn't run here last year because she was rated too high but she had finished two good thirds coming into this. She's in foal to In Swoop and she's flying; we waited for this race.

"Kevin was a late substitute but was due to ride her a few runs ago. He suits her because she can be keen-going. I just told him to roll away on her and fill her up coming down the hill. 

"We're delighted with that, and her owner Peter Byrne is over from Liverpool to see her, so it's important she did that. We'll mix it with her on the Flat while we can; she's only just in foal so we have a little while yet."

Sexton excels

Riding winners certainly breeds confidence and Sexton completed a double on the Paul Flynn-trained Rightfolksplease in the 2m2f handicap hurdle.

He had finished second on his last two starts, and did not look particularly resolute when runner-up in a Roscommon handicap hurdle on Monday. Sexton played an almost exaggerated waiting game here though over the longer trip and did not produce his mount until they were halfway up the hill. 

"That was a savage ride," said Flynn. "He's a grand horse, I don't think he's ungenuine and he barely gets this trip. He idles in front but fences will be the making of him. 

"He'll be able to hang on and travel away a bit longer. I think hurdles can just leave him flat out a bit."

Harry from the front

Another to benefit on a day mostly for front-runners was Run For Harry as the Gillian Callaghan-trained six-year-old followed up a recent success at Kilbeggan in the 2m2f opportunity handicap hurdle. 

Philip Byrnes's mount had only track specialist Dollar Value for company for most of the contest, and the game was over once he dispatched that rival. 

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