The winner actually ran pretty much to his mark if the performance of Karlu is to be believed as the winner was only 3lb worse off than he would have been in a handicap. Held up early, he made gradual progress to be there with every chance between the final two flights, keeping on quite well at one pace to cut the deficit to less than a length.
Ballymahon was in the first three the whole way but just tended to hang fire a little bit from the second-last. It probably didn't make the difference between victory and defeat, although he did stay on well all the way to the line and he now qualifies for a handicap mark.
Favourite Shady Willow was never able to get competitive. In fairness, he's a sizeable individual who tends to carry his head a bit high so whether this track would suit him would have been a question mark. Walsh kept him to the inside rail the whole way but it certainly looked as though handling the track was an issue for him and he eventually kept on to be nearest at the finish.
After a very promising debut at Navan a couple of months back, Allez Les Bleu has failed to build on it, but as at Thurles last time he was much too keen for his own good for most of the journey and was a spent force from before the second-last.
Tote
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