NO one would dream of describing Keal Ryan as the old dog but when it came down to the hard road of yesterday's Naas Hurdle, the proven performer proved too tough for the heavily touted hurdling newcomer, Dovaly.
The favourite may have once been a classic hope on the Flat but hurdling is a different discipline and Keal Ryan was having his sixth hurdling start yesterday.
John Shortt had no hesitation in making use of that experience. Making the pace throughout Keal Ryan had a host of challengers queueing up behind him on the turn in but oddly enough, Dovaly didn't look to be one of them.
Kevin O'Brien's mount was one of the first under pressure and in the circumstances it was to Dovaly's credit that he eventually became Keal Ryan's biggest threat. However, the gelding, who finished a close fourth in last year's Lingfield Derby Trial for Henry Cecil, could never get closer than the eventual length and half winning margin.
Dessie Hughes immediately nominated the Murphys Irish Stout Champion 4-Y-O Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival for Keal Ryan. "He goes on fast ground, it's a good prize and I feel he's entitled to run in it," the Curragh trainer said.
That will mean a likely clash with the Triumph Hurdle winner Commanche Court, a prospect that Dovaly's trainer, Michael O'Brien, had been relishing up until yesterday's disappointment.
"Even with his inexperience, I still thought he should have been able to pick these off. If he was to develop into a serious Punchestown challenger I thought he should have won today but we'll run him again at Fairyhouse before deciding," O'Brien said.
Kevin O'Brien's Fairyhouse options were curtailed by the stewards who ruled him out of the Tuesday and Wednesday of the Festival with a two day ban for using his whip excessively on Dovaly.
In contrast to the juveniles, the Foran Products Handicap Hurdle was fought out by two hardy old salts and such was the intensity of Ciara's Prince eventual short head defeat of Good Glow, it took a good 10 minutes for the judge to separate them on the photograph.
Ciara's Prince, who had been prominent throughout, was a deserved winner but Francis Flood acknowledged that he had his share of luck a Good Glow returned dismounted by Charlie Swan.
"I thought that horse had the beating of us between the last two but he must have got a leg problem," Flood said before adding: "Our horse has been so consistent, it would have been cruel had he lost."
There were no such dramatics about Liver Bird in the Dawn Farms Hurdle as Conor O'Dwyer's mount destroyed the opposition on what was unfamiliar good ground to him. Unfamiliar it may have been but it clearly suited as he scooted five and a half lengths clear of the well backed favourite, Super Dealer.
"He seemed to like the ground but if he runs in a three mile novice at Aintree it will need to rain there. If it doesn't, then we'll go to Fairyhouse," Berry said of Liver Bird who was winning his fourth race at the Co Kildare track.
Indestructible caught the eye of the stewards at Limerick last Monday when trainer Austin Leahy and jockey Gerry O'Neill had their explanations noted following his fifth placing to All In The Game. Yesterday, Rathkeale based Leahy had the happier post race task, after the Abbey Bridge Handicap Chase, of welcoming the chestnut into the winners' enclosure.
Ridden this time by Adrian O'Shea, Indestructible pounced on the run to the last to beat Shining Willow and Leahy explained: "This horse needs the run of the race and the ground today was plenty fast enough. I rang Frank Berry three times in the last 24 hours to make sure it hadn't got too fast."
Power Pack turned the Beginners Chase into a procession, making all under Brian Hamilton to beat Applefort by 10 easy lengths.
