Irish Racing Naas report: Homer Wells made an amazing recovery after nearly being brought down to claim the Grade Two Woodlands Park 100 Slaney Novice Hurdle at Naas yesterday afternoon.

The Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old, sent off at 5 to 2, was badly hampered when Wishwillow Lord fell on the second circuit and it took all of jockey Ruby Walsh's skill to keep him on his feet.

That mishap left him some 18 lengths adrift of the front-running Sweet Kiln but Walsh conjured a magnificent rally from Homer Wells and he was back in contention at the second-last.

A slow jump at the final flight put paid to the chance of 9 to 4 favourite Petertheknot, leaving Homer Wells and Sweet Kiln to battle it out.

Sweet Kiln looked like just holding on but Homer Wells cut up the inside on the rail to deny the brave mare by a head, with Petertheknot following in third.

The expected market leader, Wild Passion, was pulled out by trainer Noel Meade because of the testing ground at the Kildare venue.

The success means Homer Wells has landed a hat-trick in the two-and-a-half-mile feature after successes here and, most recently, over three miles at Cork.

"He couldn't jump at the speed they were going but once Ruby settled him and let him jump at his own speed, he was fine," said Mullins.

"He shows very little at home. He revels in that ground and stays all day. I'll probably step him up to two and three-quarter miles or three miles."

When asked whether he could be a Cheltenham horse, the county Carlow handler said that Homer Wells really needed this sort of ground to succeed and with that in mind he would "try to win what I can with him before March".